Slayer
by Bloodthirstydemon
Summary: Demons once roamed the land, terrorizing the innocents. Then the five Kages came and sealed them away. Now, one hundred years later, Haruno Sakura gets involved in an event that changes her life, and discovers an unlikely demon slayer. Uzumaki Naruto.
1. Luck

So, my third story on the site. I don't know where this idea came from, but it was getting in the way with my writings for the chapter/sequel to _Check The Job Description_. So here it is. This is more of an expirimental thing, so I don't know if I'll continue it, though I do have a second chapter in the works.

Summary: (Slight AUish)Demons once roamed the land, terrorizing the innocents. Then the five Kages came and sealed them away. Now, one hundred years later, Haruno Sakura gets involved in an event that changes her life, and discovers an unlikely demon slayer, the class troublemaker, Uzumaki Naruto.

Disclaimer: Naurto isn't mine, don't sue please.

* * *

Slayer

_Chapter One: Luck_

A young man slowly stumbled through the slums of the city of Konoha, making his way towards an old, abandoned building. His breathing was labored, and his body was covered in blood, cuts, and bruises. Wincing, he used his good arm to reach up his shoulder and pulled out several long needles imbedded there, then tossed them aside. As he entered the building, he leaned onto the wall for support, and let himself relax. He glanced down at his left arm, and stared at it for several seconds.

A long, nasty cut ran from his elbow down to the back side of his hand, blood pouring from it. It was deep enough in the middle of his arm that he could see the bone. He let out a snort, and grinned.

"Eh, It's not so bad." He winced once more when he felt the cuts on his body grow hot. "About damn time." He growled out, and watched as the cut on his arm seemed to meld together quickly. Within minutes his arm was healed, and he could move it around normally. He took a step away from the wall and shook his entire body out, his way of releasing tension.

Then, as if nothing had happened to him, he began to stroll up the stairs in a leisurely pace. The building itself, was an old shop that had two floors. The first was the shop itself, and the second was actually a small apartment. But it had been empty for years, so the young man decided to move in and take the building for himself. He entered his home and went straight for the shower, stripping as he went. His bathroom was dark, as he had no electricity, but he knew the layout of his home by heart. He didn't have hot water, but the city never did shut off the water to the building, and for that he was thankful. So he took a quick shower to rinse himself clean from the grime and blood.

When he finished, he grabbed a damp towel(used earlier in the day) and wrapped it around his waist, then went to his mattress pad, going through a pile of clothes, trying to find something clean. During the search, his eyes caught a glimpse at his battery clock. He did a double take and panicked.

It was 6:30 in the morning. Which meant that it was Monday, which also meant that…

"Shit!! I'm gonna be late for school!"

* * *

_**A small girl was shoved violently into the mud, tears running down her face. The mud stung lightly as it hit some of her scrapes, and she let out a small whimper of pain.**_

"_**Look at her! Such a crybaby."**_

"**_Yeah, maybe if she didn't act like little miss smarty pants, we wouldn't have to teach her a lesson."_**

"**_Must be because of that big forehead of hers." The two boys who were tormenting her laughed, and one yanked on her pink hair harshly. She cried out, shutting her eyes tightly._**

"_**Stop! It hurts!"**_

"**_It's suppose to moron. And you're suppose to be smart." The boys laughed again, and the other shoved her even further into the mud. The girl wrapped her arms around herself, trying anything to ward off their attacks. _**

'**Why? Why me? I didn't do anything to them!'_ she thought desperately. She curled up tighter, hoping this torment would end soon._**

"**_Oi! What the heck are you doing?!" a new voice shouted. The boys paused in their teasing to look at the newcomer. The girl let out a breath of relief, glad that they stopped._**

_**A little blond boy stood not too far away. He wore a black T-shirt with bright orange shorts. A green crystal hung loosely around his neck, dangling on a strong black cord. The boy glared harshly at the other two, hands forming into fist.**_

"**_None of your business. Now buzz off!" The blond boy raised a fist dramatically, bending his knees, as if going into a stance._**

"**_Oji-san told me guys like you should be punished for picking on the weak! Now leave her alone or I'm gonna kick your asses!" one of the bullies took the same stance as the blond boy, ready for anything._**

"**_You're ji-san is nothing but a crazy old coot! Now beat it before you get hurt!"_**

_**Suddenly, the blond boy launched himself at the bullies, knocking one into the mud and ground his face in the dirty water.**_

"**_Take that back! You don't know anything about oji-san!" The girl watched in awe as her rescuer rained punches on the back of the other boys head. Then, the second boy came up behind him and grabbed him in a headlock, and pulled both of them into the mud. The two wrestled around for several moments before the first boy got up and jumped in the fray. Finally, the blond boy bit down hard on one of the bullies arm, breaking free from the headlock. He then kicked the other boy in the groin, before turning his attention back to the first. The boy who was bitten, suddenly panicked._**

"_**Alright! You win! We'll leave her alone!" The boy helped up his friend and the two quickly ran off(one limping of course).**_

_**The blond boy snorted, and tried to brush some mud off his arms. He gave up quickly, and turned back to the girl, offering her a hand up.**_

"**_Hey, are you ok?" He asked kindly, grinning all the while. She wiped away some tears and mud, and took his hand. Even though both of them were covered head to toe in mud, he held her hand firmly, not letting her slip out of his grasp. _**

"**_I-I'll be fine…Thank you for saving me." She tried to get a better look at his face, but couldn't because of the mud that began to cake over. But she did see his deep blue eyes that shone brightly. He scratched the back his head sheepishly, still grinning._**

"**_Yeah well, I couldn't let them get away with something like that. Bastards like that need to be taught a lesson!" He cringed slightly, then quickly mumbled "Sorry, I'm not suppose to swear. Oji-san gets mad when I do, but baa-chan does it all the time when ero-sennin is around." his nose crinkled slightly as he looked upwards in thought "I don't get grownups sometimes."_**

_**The girl giggled slightly, but then quickly sobered up. The boy noticed it and looked at her in concern "Hey, are you sure you're ok?" she sniffed, and let fresh tears run down her face.**_

"**_I'm always getting picked on…I have the worst luck…" The boy blinked twice, then slipped off his necklace. He wiped it clean as best as he could, and put the necklace around the girls' head._**

"**_Baa-chan gave this to me on my birthday. She said it brought good luck, so you can have it." The girl reached up and held the crystal in her hand, staring deep into its emerald depths. She looked back up at the boy.  
"I can't take this. It was a gift to you." She took it off and handed it back to him. But he shook his head._**

"**_Then you can borrow it until your bad luck goes away." He put the necklace back on her, and grinned widely. "Is that ok?" a light blush graced her cheeks and she nodded._**

"_**If you think so…"**_

"_**Then it's a deal! You can borrow it until you don't have any bad luck anymore! Let's shake on it!" he grabbed her hand and shook it furiously, still grinning. Suddenly, he let out a scream. "Crap! I was suppose to be home a long time ago. Gotta run bye!" He then took off in the opposite direction as fast as his small legs could take him.**_

"**_Wait!" She cried out, reaching for him. He paused, then ran back to her_**

"**_Almost forgot, baa-chan did this when she gave me the necklace," he gave her a quick kiss on her forehead, and grinned "Said it was for extra luck. Bye!" he took off again, leaving her in shock, and as red as a tomato(if she weren't covered in mud). When he disappeared from sight, she shook out of her stupor and looked down at the necklace around her neck._**

'**I hope I see him again…I wanted to get his name…I'll ask him when I give back his necklace'**

"Sakura! Stop day dreaming and pay attention!" Sakura jumped in her desk, and gave her sensei a guilty look.

"Sorry Iruka-sensei. It won't happen again." He nodded, satisfied, and returned to the task at hand.

"Right. Now if you'll all turn to page two-thirty, I'll explain your next assignment." Some of her classmates let out groans, while others did as they were told. Sakura glanced down at the crystal dangling around her neck.

'_It's been twelve years since I last saw that boy…'_ she reached under the collar of her shirt and pulled out the green crystal _'The only thing I remember about him were his eyes.'_

The door slammed open, and a figure stumbled into the room, laughing nervously. Iruka glared at him.

"Uzumaki Naruto! Do you have a good reason for arriving at the last fifteen minutes of class?" the blond boy gulped, and laughed lightly.

"I uh…got lost on the road of life?" He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. Most of the students groaned, some mumbling "moron" softly under their breath. Iruka let out a long sigh while pinching his nose.

"Just sit down, and turn to page two-thirty in your history book. I'll talk to you later." Naruto grinned and went to his desk quietly, not wanting to cause anymore of a scene. This was normal for the class, but it was still annoying to deal with. Naruto was known for having the worst grades in the class, and for being a trouble maker. This was one of the rare times he would show up at all, since he usually did something to get out of class or just not show up. The only people to put up with Naruto were Iruka and Kakashi, who had to be saints to handle him(according to the other staff members)

Sakura shook her head and flipped through her own book to the right page. "Your next project is to do a detailed timeline of important events in the last one hundred years. I will assign you partners. This will be due on Thursday." The class complained loudly as Iruka called out names, though Sakura stayed silent.

'_If they paid attention on Friday, then everyone would have known about the project then.'_

"Haruno Sakura." She stopped her musings and looked up at Iruka

"Yes sensei?"

"You will be partnered with Naruto." She cringed, and her left eye began to twitch on its own in annoyance

"Y-Yes sensei…" _'Damn it! Why do I have to be partnered with him! I'll end up doing all the work! Even though I could do this alone…stupid sensei assigning this stupid project…'_

The bell rang, signaling the end of class. Everyone gathered their belongings and left at a fast pace.

"Remember! This is due Thursday! Not Friday!" Iruka shouted. As Sakura got out the door, Naruto ran up next to her, grinning sheepishly.

"Hey, Sakura-chan! I'll try to do my best on this project, so when do you want to start?" She sighed, rubbing her eyes tiredly.

'_I really don't want to deal with him right now.'_

"Yeah, yeah. Listen can we meet in the library after school today? We can start then." He nodded enthusiastically.

"Right! See you then Sakura-chan!" he gave her a salute, and ran down the hall. She sighed once more and rubbed her temples.

'_It's going to be a long week.'_

"Tough luck for you, eh forehead?" Sskuras grinned to herself, then smirked.

"Well at least I was partnered with someone who will _attempt_ the project piggy." Turning to her left, Sakura was greeted to a grinning Ino.

"Yeah, you get a trouble maker and I get a lazy genius. Some luck we have eh?"

"Well, I guess I have better luck than you then huh?" she joked, lightly elbowing Ino in her side. Ino glared lightly back, but then smiled sweetly.

"Then why don't you let me borrow that rock of yours. I could use a little luck right now." She laid an arm around Sakura's shoulder, smirking. Sakura smiled sweetly as Ino did, and held onto the crystal.

"Nope!" then stuck out her tongue at her best friend. Ino snorted, shaking her head.

"You've had that thing since before I met you. I haven't seen you take it off once since."

Sakura smiled to herself and fingered the stone fondly. After the boy gave it to her, she had met Ino, who had come to her aid when some girls were teasing her. She and Ino had been friends ever since. She had perfect grades, made more friends, and was more involved in school activities. The only thing that she wasn't able to do was find the boy who gave her the necklace.

"This necklace is special to me Ino. Not only that, but I made a promise to give it back when I didn't need it anymore." She let out a frustrated breath "But I haven't seen him since I was five, and now flash forward to today, its been twelve years…" she clenched the necklace tightly "I don't know if I'll see him again." Ino gave Sakura's shoulders a squeeze, and smiled warmly at her.

"Cheer up forehead. I'm sure you'll meet your dream boy again soon. He might even come and swoop you off your feet when your in need." She said the last part in a dream like tone, her eyes shinning. Sakura laughed, and began to drag her down the hall.

"Yeah, your dream come true. Come on, were gonna be late for class."

* * *

'_Amazing…he actually showed up.'_

Sakura watched as the blond troublemaker entered the library, then quickly made his way over to her and sat down. But he still looked nervously around the room.

"What are you doing?"

"Looking out for Kurenai-sensei…I heard from Kiba that she was looking for me."

"Why would Kurenai-sensei be looking for you?" she sighed, beginning to regret ever asking.

"I uh…ruined some of her things with the flour stunt I pulled last week." He grinned, and laughed to himself. "It was worth it though…coolest dough boy ever." She rolled her eyes, then pulled out her history book

"Lets just get started alright?"

"Right! So, uh…what are we doing exactly?" he asked, scratching the whisker like marks on his face. She held back a growl, only showing her irritation with her eye twitching.

"Figures you wouldn't pay attention …we have to do a timeline for the last century, Right after the five Kages sealed away the demons in the other world. Basically we need to list important events that happened in our nation after the sealing."

For centuries, demons roamed the land. They would terrorize humans or hunt them down viciously as prey. There were ways to kill them, but it would take years of specialized training in order to properly fight them. The demons would take out any threats, no matter how small they were, which was why there were few who dared to take them on. Then, one hundred years ago, five men, all from different nations, came together and found a way to seal the demons in the other world. From there, the five took out the rest of the roaming demons in the world. They were praised as heroes, and were asked to lead their countries. But the five chose not to, and soon disappeared into the shadows, never to be heard of again. So the five were given the title of 'Kage', and depending on which nation they hailed from, they had an element to their name. The Kage for Sakura's and Naruto's nation was the Hokage. The others were the Mizukage, Kazekage, Tsuchikage, and Raikage. Their titles were never passed on to any other man.

"Ok! Let's get started then." Naruto began fishing through his things, trying to find his notebook. He then jumped in his seat, startled by something. Sakura watched as he dug into his pocket and pulled out an old pager. He narrowed his eyes at the device, then slipped it back into his pocket. He stood up from his chair and looked apologetically at her. "Sorry Sakura-chan…something really important came up suddenly. I gotta go." He grabbed his things and quickly ran for the door. She jumped from her chair and shouted at him.

"Hey wait a sec! You just can't leave like this!"

"I'll make it up to you! I promise!" he shouted back. She let out a frustrated growl and let herself fall back into the chair, crossing her arms in the process.

'_Somehow, I knew this was going to happen…jerk.'_ She thought, glaring at the door Naruto had exited from. She grabbed her pencil and began writing down information in her own notebook._ 'Might as well start…no use in crying over spilt milk…'

* * *

Several hours passed by. Sakura had lost track of the time when doing her and Naruto's project, so she was currently rushing home before it became too dark out. _

"Wish daylight wasn't cut so short in the winter months." She mumbled, pulling her jacket closer to her body. She decided to cut through the park to save time but was started having second thoughts._ 'Never thought the park would be so creepy at night…'_ she heard some rustling behind her, and quickly turned to face it. There was nothing there. She let out a sigh of relief, then continued carefully on her way._ 'No more watching scary movies…'

* * *

_

He stayed silent, watching its prey continue on her way in the dark. She was wary, which made things all the more better for when he would catch her. She smelled so sweet that it took of his will power not to jump her now. He needed to wait for a little bit longer. But her scent overwhelmed him, finally sending him over the edge. He began his attack.

* * *

Sakura jumped when she heard rustling for the second time. She glanced behind and instantly froze. What stood there was…what she thought at first was a man, but was more of a beast. 

It stood tall, back straight and chin high. The beast was covered in dark fur and had the face of a canine. With his ears bent back, he snarled at her, his yellow eyes glowing in the night. Sakura's body shook when the beast snarled, its aura seemed to reach out at her and hold her in place.

'_What the hell is this thing?' _The beast jumped at her, lashing out. At the last moment, Sakura moved backwards, but unfortunately, its claws caught her leg. She hit the ground hard, letting out a scream. She looked back up at the attacker, and felt sick as she watched it lick away her blood on it unnaturally long fingers delicately.

"**_Hmmm…you taste very sweet for a human…I will enjoy devouring your heart…"_** the beast said with a growl, its voice deep.

'_I'm going to die…_'she thought despairingly. Her breathing was shaky, as she reached up to grab her necklace._ 'Someone…please help me…'_ She let out a scream as a final plea, pleading to any god that would answer her prayer.

* * *

I had more, but i thought this was a good place to stop. I'll try to get the second chapter up as quick as possible, but work consumes my life. Though it is pretty much done, I just think its too short. Anyways, thanks for reading, and reviews are appreciated.

_BTD_


	2. Savior

...Wow. I wasn't expecting that big of a response. I feel so giddy! 16 reviews in a day. Damn that's awesome! Well I have good news and bad news. Good news is that I'm going to continue the story, bad news is I have no idea where to go from here. I know what I want to do for chapter three, but from there, things are still up in the air. So updates are going to take longer than I would want them too. There may be some mistakes since I rushed to get this out, but other than that, enjoy chapter two!

Disclaimer: Naruto isn't mine, please don't sue.

* * *

_Chapter Two: Savior_

"You asshole! You lied to me! There's nothing out here!" Naruto screamed into the payphone. "I wasted four hours looking for this thing and haven't picked up any trail! And on top of that, I had to leave Sakura-chan alone to do our project for Iruka-sensei's class! She's gonna be pissed at me!"

"**Don't shout at me you ungrateful little punk! Who was the one who taught you how to track demons in the first place eh?"** The voice argued back, being just as loud as the blond.

"Well you obviously suck at that as well! Maybe if you didn't peek at girls all the time you would be a better teacher _ero-sennin!_"

"**What I do is valuable research that brings in money to help pay my bills!"**

"Yeah, for the bars and brothels you owe." The boy mumbled. Before the other man had the chance to reply, Naruto's head snapped up. He took in a couple sniffs, and turned to the opposite direction._ 'Blood…shit there really was one out there. I have to hurry before someone gets killed'_. He slammed the phone on the receiver and took off in the direction of the scent._ 'Not too far now.'_ He landed in the high tree branches, and began to scope out the area. He heard a scream, and jerked his gaze downward. That was when he froze, shocked to see who was the one in danger_. 'Sakura-chan! What is she doing here?!'_ he shook out of his shock and pulled out a kunai. _'No time, I have to take it out now!'_ and he jumped straight down at his target, eyes focused on its neck.

* * *

The beast raised its claws for the final strike. Sakura couldn't tear her gaze away from its terrifying eyes… 

Then, out of nowhere, something crashed onto its back. The beast howled in pain as it crashed into the ground, blood pouring from its shoulder. The figure that landed on the monster ripped out a knife, and stabbed it into its back. Blood sprayed out violently from its wounds, and the beast squirmed in pain. The figure jumped off its back, rushed to her and scooped her up in his arms. She tried to get a look and her rescuer, but let out a hiss of pain. She tried to get a look at her injured leg, but it was currently pressed against her rescuers chest. She had forgotten about her injury due to the beasts fearsome aura.

"Just hang on. I'll help you as soon as I can Sakura-chan." Her eyes widened in shock at the familiar voice. She jerked her head up to see his face. It was Naruto, and instead of his usual goofy grin, his expression was grim, though he was determined.

"Naruto?! What-"

"Sorry, but can we talk later? That demon isn't dead yet, and he's gonna be pissed once he finds out your gone." He replied, jumping gracefully from branch to branch, reaching the edge of the park at abnormal speeds.

"Demon?! That was a de-" She paused, then screamed when she saw that they were heading straight into the side of a building. She clung tightly to Naruto's neck, who choked lightly. He still maintained his speed, but leaned backwards. His feet crashed into the wall, bending his knees to take away some of the shock. Then, against all laws of gravity, he began running up the side of the building. Sakura still kept her tight grip around Naruto's neck, her eyes wide.

He jumped to the top of the building, and landed on the flat roof lightly. He kneeled down and set Sakura on the ground, but couldn't get her to let go of his neck.

"Uh…Sakura-chan, could I have my neck back please?" she regained her senses, and slipped her arms off of him. "Thanks…uh, can I see your leg?"

"What?!" He waved his arms frantically in defense.

"Not like that! It's just your hurt, and I can help." It was then that she noticed the blood on his shirt, and turned her gaze down on her leg. Several ugly gashes traveled from her knee down to her ankle, her pant leg was soaked with blood. She let out another hiss, and trailed her hand over the injury. Naruto grabbed her hand and moved it to the side.

"Try to keep still. I'm uh, not really good at this." _'I should have paid more attention to baa-chan when she was teaching me.'_ His hand hovered over her ankle, and began to glow a light blue. Sakura felt the warmth travel from the light to down to the gashes, and watched in awe as her cuts began to heal slowly, mending itself together.

'_Amazing…I've never seen anything like this._' His hand began to travel up towards her knee, healing more of her cuts as it went. She tried to hold back her blush, but failed miserably. Her gaze shifted from her injury to Naruto's face, and was amazed at how much effort he put into this. His eyes were solely focused on his hand, as sweat began to bead on his forehead. _'I've never seen him act like this before…this is nothing like the Naruto I know…what the hell is going on?!'_

When he finished, he pulled his hand away and let out a heavy sigh, and chuckled.

"Sorry, it takes a lot of concentration and control to do that. And, well…that's something I'm not good at." He said grinning widely, scratching the back of his head. Sakura looked back down at her leg and gasped. The gashes were no longer there. They were completely gone. She touched where the injury was, not quite believing her eyes.

"How… how did you do that?" she asked quietly, looking back up at him. He began to stutter, and blushed lightly to himself.

"Well….I'm not too good at explaining this kinda stuff, especially medical jutsu-" his eyes flashed, and all traces of his goofiness disappeared instantly. He whipped out several kunai, turned and waited. Sakura was about to ask what was wrong, but he held up his hand and she stayed quiet.

Suddenly the demon came flying over the edge, mouth frothing with saliva. Naruto threw the kunai at the demon, imbedding all of them in its chest. The demon howled in rage, and ripped out each object. Naurto brought his hands together, smirking at the demon. **"Kage Bushin No Jutsu!"** A cloud a smoke, and then there were five Naruto's standing there. Sakura's jaw dropped.

'_How is that even possible?!'_ four of the Naruto's jumped the demon, each of them grabbing a limb, trying to keep the demon still. The fifth Naruto, held his hand to the side, palm open. He grinned, a wild look in his eyes.

"Say goodbye you dumb furry bastard!" his hand began to glow like before, but this time the light began to swirl into a small ball. It grew bigger and spun faster, taking a more solid look from before. The look in the demons eyes changed from rage to shock at the sight of the ball of energy.

"**_A Slayer?! A brat like you is a Slayer!? That jutsu…" _**Recognition lit up in the demons eyes **_"So you're the-"_**

"**Rasengan!!"** Naruto never gave the demon time to finish its sentence. He leapt forward, and drove the ball into the demons midsection. The demons eyes bulged, as it felt its stomach being torn to shreds. The other Naruto's disappeared the same way they appeared, Leaving the original Naruto standing his ground. The demon collapsed against him, coughing up blood onto his shoulder. It moved its snout to Naruto's ear before saying its finals words quietly.

"**_Jinchuuriki…"_** The demon slid off of Naruto's body, and hit the ground hard. Naruto stood there silently for a few moments, before he wiped away the blood on his hand with his jacket. He turned over to Sakura, making sure she was alright. Her eyes were wide with fear, and her body shook enough for him to notice from his position. He walked up to her and knelt down to her level, offering her a gentle smile.

"Are you going to be ok, Sakura-chan?" when she looked into his eyes, something clicked in her within her mind, and she immediately calmed down.

"_**Hey, are you ok?"**_

She continued looking into his eyes, tilting her head and even squinting slightly.

'_It couldn't be…Was that Naruto?'_ Her hand had instinctively went to the necklace around her neck, and she looked away from his eyes.

"Sakura-chan?" she turned back to face him, pushing away her thoughts for now.

"I'm fine…But," her calm expression quickly turned to anger, and it was solely focused on Naruto. "What the hell is going on?! Naruto let out a yelp, falling backwards as Sakura continued her rant. "What is that thing?!" She pointed at the demons dead carcass. Naurto blinked.

"A demon. I thought I said that already, but maybe not."

"A demon…" he nodded several times

"Yep! A D-class one, but a demon is a demon."

'_D-class?'_ "But demons were sealed away by the Kages a century ago! They shouldn't be here!" Naruto chuckled nervously, rubbing his neck.

"Can we talk about this later? I need to finish taking care of that." He pointed to the demons body over his shoulder. He decided not to wait for her reply, and jumped to his feet, heading over to the body. He slipped his hand into one of his pockets on his pants, and pulled out a slip of paper. Sakura couldn't read what was printed on it from where she was, but it didn't matter, as he slapped the paper on the demons back. He took several steps back and waited patiently. Then, out of nowhere, the body burst into flames, causing Sakura to jump. Naruto grinned widely, when he turned to face her again.

"What did you do?" She asked in awe.

"Just a variation of an explosive tag…took a long time for me to get it right too…" He mumbled the last part quietly to himself. It only took several minutes for the entire body to turn to ash, and blew away in the breeze.

Naruto clapped his hands in triumph, and turned back to Sakura.

"Well, now that that's taken care of, I better take you home." Sakura just blinked at him flatly.

"What?"

"Uh, I'm taking you home. Is something wrong with that?" She stood up quickly, glaring fiercely and grabbed the collar of his shirt.

"You still haven't explained anything to me! I almost got killed by some monster and you're acting like this is an everyday thing!"

"I-it is an everyday thing." He whimpered quietly, and gulped. She shook him wildly.

"No it's not!" Sakura let out a frustrated growl and dropped him, pinching the bridge of her nose. "And on top of all that, how the hell are we supposed to get down from here?" Naruto grinned, and cracked his knuckles.

"That? That's easy, just hang on." She faced him once more.

"Wha-kyaa!!" He picked her up once more and charged off the rooftop, aiming for the trees in the park. Clinging to his neck, she screamed bloody murder. The scream threw Naruto off balance, causing him to miss the branch he was hoping to land on. With no free arms to grab the branches, he panicked and began flailing his legs wildly. He landed on his feet harshly, his legs buckled from the shock. He stood his ground though, refusing to fall over. He held back the tears in his eyes, but couldn't stop the high pitched moan of pain.

"…Owww…" Sakura wiggled free of his grasp, and glared at him.

"Well what were you expecting?! You jumped from a seven story building!"

"I would have landed in the tree branch, if you hadn't screamed." He said while rubbing his legs. Her glare had intensified.

"So it's my fault that you screwed up? Even though you gave me no warning what so ever about what you were doing?" Naruto opened his mouth to reply, but then thought the better of it._ 'Ero-sennin and baa-chan had an argument like this once, and he got his ass kicked after he blamed her…better not say anything…'_

"Well?" she asked once more. He gave her a cheeky grin.

"N-no! You're right! It was my fault." She nodded, satisfied with his answer. He straightened up, knees cracking as he went. Sakura was amazed as she watched him walk around.

"Shouldn't your legs be broken?" He froze in mid step, and chuckled nervously.

"I uh, healed them when you got off of me…" She raised her brow, not fully believing him.

'_Where was that glow from earlier then?'_ He began to walk off, going ahead of her.

"Well, let me walk you home. Just to make sure you get back ok." She ran to catch up with him.

"Wait a sec, I still want to know-" He gave her a pleading look.

"Can we talk about it later? I promise I'll tell you everything, but I just want to get you home tonight." She slowed down as she caught up to him.

"You promise to tell me everything?" She asked one last time. He smiled, and nodded.

"I don't go back on my word." She let out a sigh, but was content for now.

"Alright. My house isn't far from here."

They walked through the park side by side. Naruto had his hands in his pockets, and his shoulders were slightly hunched over. But his eyes would move from side to side, and every once in awhile, Sakura would hear him sniff as a breeze blew by. Then, his gaze shifted down to her legs.

"So, how are you going to keep that from you're parents?" He asked cautiously, pointing at her pant leg. Sakura looked down, seeing that her jeans were covered with slightly damp blood, and one leg was torn to shreds. She winced, remembering the injury that was there only minutes ago. "Sakura-chan? Are you still hurt?" She shook her head.

"No, I'm fine…My parents are out of town, visiting relatives. I couldn't go because of school, but they trust me being alone."

"Oh. Guess you're lucky then huh?" Her eye twitched with annoyance.

'_After everything that has happened, I'm starting to doubt that…'_ The rest of the trip was made in silence, neither of them having nothing to say. They eventually came across her school bag, and both were surprised to find it intact with everything in it._ 'At least I don't have to do my homework all over again…'_

Ten minutes later, they reached the front of her house. They both stood awkwardly, not looking at one another. Naruto finally let out a breath.

"So-"

"Thank you." His head snapped up to look at her.

"Huh?"

"Thank you for saving me…" She said again, blushing this time. He grinned, rubbing the back of his head like he always did.

"Yeah…you're welco-eh?" He paused, then dug into his pants pocket, pulling out the pager from earlier. Sakura caught a glimpse of a single number on the screen as he turned too looked at it. He let out a curse.

"Shit! That's all the way on the other side of town! I'm gonna kill that pervert!" He ranted, shoving the pager back into his pocket.

"What's wrong?"

"I gotta go. I'll see you tomorrow after school, so we can work on our project ok? See ya!" He ran off, leaving her by herself.

'_Is he doing what I think he's doing? And he still wants to work on our project tomorrow? He's insane!!'_

After several seconds, Sakura entered her house and locked the door behind her. She went up the stairs towards her room, letting her things fall onto the floor. Grabbing some spare clothes, she went into the bathroom and took a long, hot bath. After getting cleaned up and changed(And getting rid of her ruined jeans), she went back to her room and pulled out her history book and the notes for the project. She began writing furiously on a new sheet, eyes flicking back and forth from her book and paper.

'_I want answers Uzumaki Naruto…and I'm not going to let anything get in the way of what I want.'_

_

* * *

_

This chapter is a little short for my taste, but I figured this was another good place to stop at. Anyways, Thanks for reading! Reveiws are welcome as well as constructive criticism. Have a good week everyone! 

_BTD_


	3. Truth

First off, I apologize to those of you that I wasn't able to reply back to. This week has been...interesting. We had a freak snow storm in my home of Western Washingtion on wednesday, and things have been hectic since. You would think that three inches of snow would be nothing, but it turned out to cause mass panic on the roads. From stalled cars to metro buses jack-knifing on the free-ways(Us Washingtonians can handle rain, but not snow) I was at work when it happened, but I didn't get off shift until eleven at night, so I got to see all the abandoned cars on the roads, and some spin out from the ice. It's been several days, but the snow is still around and we're expecting more to come apparantly. What ever happend to global warming? I haven't seen this much snow at my home for over ten years.

Anyways, I've been working on chapter three every chance I get, so I've been typing late into the night and early morning. I wanted to make it longer, but it was another good place to stop(I'm not satisfied with the length until I get to at least five pages) Hopefully, This chapter might be able to explain some things. If not,well...I'll try to reply back to you. For now...

Enjoy.

_

* * *

_

Chapter Three: Truth

The next day passed by too slowly for Sakura's taste. She couldn't keep her focus in any of her classes. Her thoughts would always go back to last night, with her close call with death, and how Naruto came in and killed the monster with relative ease. She had been scolded by her teachers already in her classes for not paying attention. The perfect student in her ranted and raved at the thought of ruining her standing with her teachers, but she shoved those thoughts aside.

Naruto hadn't shown up for classes yet. Before, she wouldn't even have thought about Naruto at all. But ever since last night…

'_Did he go after another one of those things? Was he hurt? Or killed?'_ She shivered at the thought, rubbing her bare arms

"Sakura." She broke out of her musings and looked up.

"Yes, Kakashi-sensei?"

"Are you feeling alright? You're not acting like your usual self."

"I'm alright sensei. Thanks for asking though." She was grateful that Kakashi was more laid back than the other staff in the school(As laid back as someone with one eye could be. Students loved to gossip on how he lost it. But he never said anything) In fact, they were having a quiet free day in class because he had bought a new book and wanted to read it.(though the cover looked very flimsy, like it did not belong on a fresh, crisp, new book)

The door opened, and in walk Naruto, wearing his usual outfit that consisted of his orange and black jacket and pants.

"Hey, sensei!" He made his way to his desk, which was situated in front of Sakura's.

"Yo." Kakashi waved, not looking up from his book. But as Naruto sat down, his uncovered eye turned on to the boy. "I heard that you were late for Iruka's class yesterday…" Naruto looked back in confusion.

"Yeah, what about it?"

"I also heard that you used one of my excuses." Naruto nodded, waiting for him to continue. "Next time, try to come up with something original. That's your specialty…" Kakashi finished, then went back to his book.

"Sure thing sensei!" Naruto chuckled out in a light tone, then crossed his arms on his desk, resting his head on his make shift pillow.

Sakura let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding in, and relaxed slightly.

'_He's alright…but why show up for the last class of the day?'_ She decided to nudge his back with her foot. Succeeding in getting his attention, he turned back, and grinned at her.

"Hey Sakura-chan. How are you feeling?" He asked her softly, in a kind tone. It was then that she noticed that his eyes were blood shot, and that there were black rings under them. He still kept smiling though.

'_He must've been up all night. I'll ask him later…'_ She shook her head.

"Never mind. I'll talk to you after school, in the library."

"Alright…" He nodded again, and he let his head slam onto his desk. She winced as he hit the desk, but felt more relaxed now that she knew she was going to get some answers. She could wait until he got some sleep first.

* * *

When the bell signaled the end of class, Sakura decided not to wake Naruto up. But she asked Kakashi to wake him in twenty minutes, if he didn't wake up on his own. She wasn't going to wait all day for him. 

But surprisingly, he walked in the library five minutes after she did, looking better than he was an hour before. He threw his jacket on the back of the chair and straightened out his black shirt, then began pulling out his history book and notebook, and said to her.

"Sorry about running out on you yesterday Sakura-chan. Let's get started on our project. We could get pretty far if we start now." She reached into her bag and pulled out several sheet of papers, letting them fall on the table top. Naruto looked at the sheets in confusion. "Uh…What's that?"

"Our finished project. I did it last night."

"By yourself?!" Ha half shouted in amazement. She glared at him lightly.

"I'm not you Naruto. I could've done this without the text book and partner." He chuckled to himself.

"Yeah, that's true." He picked up the papers and looked through them, then glanced back at her. "But…I wanted to help…I feel like I'm only along for the ride, you know?" He frowned slightly, "I'm not going to accept this. I want to do the project together, so we both do the work." She snatched the papers out of his hands and slipped them back into her bag.

"This project is the last thing on my mind right now you moron! You promised to explain about what happened last night. I got this out of the way so we could jump straight to the point." He blinked at her.

"You want to talk about it now?"

"Yes!"

"But what about the-" she growled, stood from her chair, and grabbed Naruto by the collar, shaking him angrily.

"Enough about the damn project already! It's done! Over with!!"

"Quiet!!" An elderly woman at the front desk shouted at her. She paused in mid-shake, and suddenly let him go. He fell back into his chair, gulping in fear. She blushed and apologized to the librarian, adjusted her red sleeveless shirt, then sat down quietly.

They were both quiet for a solid minute, before Naruto cleared his throat.

"So…what do you want to know?" He asked, scratching his cheek with his index finger. She adjusted herself in her seat and leaned forward towards him.

"Why are demons here? Weren't they sealed away by the five Kages one hundred years ago?" He nodded

"They did, but over time, the seal began fail. It just wasn't strong enough." He leaned back into his chair, relaxing somewhat. "So demons slowly began to come back after a couple a years."

"Is that why the Kages disappeared?"

"They…didn't really disappear." He replied, quietly. Sakura tried to lean in closer to him.

"Were they killed?"

"When they found out the seal was failing, the Kages got together again, to create a newer, stronger seal. But they were ambushed, and all but the Raikage were killed."

"By demons?" She added. He was quiet for several moments, until Sakura nudged his arm.

"Sorry. Yeah…they were killed by…powerful demons."

She leaned back, crossing her arms in the process. She knew he was going to say something else, but decided not to push the subject.

"So…why aren't we overrun by demons then if the Kages were killed." Naruto blinked at her.

"The Kages weren't the only ones fighting demons. There were others who were just as strong as the Kages, some were stronger. Those people inherited their titles as Kages, which included the Hokage's brother, who became the Nidaime of our country." Sakura's eyes widened in shock.

"So you're saying that the Kages are still around? Well, their successors at least?" He nodded quickly, grinning from excitement.

"Yeah! They're really strong too! The jutsu's they can do are so awesome!!" Sakura blinked.

"Jutsu's?"

"Oh! Jutsu's are the techniques we use to kill demons. Physical attacks work too, but jutsu's get the job done faster."

"So that thing you did with your hands was a jutsu?"

"Yeah." He blushed from embarrassment. "I'm…not so good at explaining how jutsu's work…So can we talk about something else." She was somewhat disappointed, but decided to ask another question.

"How come the general public doesn't know about the seal failing?" Naruto shrugged

"It was something those guys decided at the time…Not sure why, maybe to keep people from freaking out."

"So does the government know about it?" He nodded

"Yeah, they even hire us sometimes for odd jobs because of our skills, and pay us if we take out a demon that's been bothering them.

"Is there anything else you want to know Sakura-chan?" He asked politely. She nodded

"You mentioned something about D-class last night…" He nodded

"That's the system we use to sort out the strong and weak demons." He leaned in close to her "There are five classes of demons. D, C, B, A, and S. D-class demons are the weakest, and S-class ones are the strongest. D-class ones are easy to look for, since they look like animals. Same goes for C-class demons. But B-class demons and up are harder to find, since they're smart enough to look like humans to hide themselves."

"So I was attacked by a D-class demon then?"

"Yeah. Demons attack people usually out of hunger, but they sometimes kill for fun of it…The one from last night was hungry, so he was going to eat you, and maybe someone else." Her body shivered, and she hugged her arms.

'_Great…I was just an appetizer to some overgrown mutt…'_ Naruto saw her expression, and winced.

"S-sorry, I didn't mean for it to come out like that…"

"Don't be, I was the one that asked…" She readjusted herself in her chair, and leaned on the table again. "Have you ever seen an S-class demon before?"

He was silent for sometime, and Sakura began to think she hit a touchy subject. Right before she was going to take back the question, he finally spoke.

"I'm not supposed to fight A-class and S-class demons by myself. My…sensei said I'm not strong enough. They want me to get away if I happen to run into one…" He slammed his palm on the table suddenly, causing Sakura to jump in surprise. "Which I think is total bull! I'm strong enough to take on anything!" He leaned back into his chair and crossed his arms. "I'm not afraid of those bastards…" She could feel his angry aura radiate off of him. She could of swore that she saw his eyes flash red for a moment.

"Hey-" She spoke up, but he reached into his pocket and pulled out the pager he always seemed to have. He began to glare at the small screen.

"That's not too far from here…" she nudged him with her foot, catching his attention.

"What do you use that for?"

"I can track demons, but if there's one across the city, I won't know about it. So my…sensei has contacts all over Konoha that tell him if there's a demon around, and he tells me through the pager if he can't deal with it at the moment." He flipped the pager over to show her the screen. The number that was displayed was "4". "Sensei made me study the city map of Konoha, and he divided it up into five sections. You know north, south, east, west, and the middle. Each section is given a number, so when a demon is over in the north side of the city, that section would be "1", and the middle would be "5". Does that make sense?"

It did make sense. North, south, east, west, and center would be one, two, three, four, and five.

"But why use a pager? A cell phone would be better wouldn't it?" Snorting, he slipped the pager back into his pocket.

"Too expensive. This thing is fine. I've been using it for years, and it hasn't ever been broken in all the fights I've been in." He stood up from his chair. "I gotta go, some trouble in the west side of town." He grabbed his jacket, slipped it on and zipped it up. "Will you be ok walking home alone? It's starting to get dark out side."

Surprised, she glanced at her watch. It was four thirty. They had been talking for over two hours, and the school library was going to lock up soon. Sakura began to gather her things as well, and stood up, straightening out her tan shorts.

"I think I'll be alright…there's still more I want to ask you, but some other time."

"Yeah…another time. I'll walk you to the entrance."

The two made their walk in a comfortable, peaceful silence. When they stepped out into the night, a cold breeze came by, nipping at Sakura's bare arms.

'_Wasn't expecting to be at school this late…again… I should've brought a heavy jacket.'_ She suddenly felt warmth around her arms, as Naruto slipped his jacket around her. He scratched his head, his cheeks red from embarrassment.

"You were cold…" He said sheepishly. She blushed.

"Thanks…" She said quietly, and pulled the jacket tighter around her.

'_He's really not that bad…'_ Then out of nowhere he grabbed her hand and gently pulled her along. She glared at the back of his head_ 'He's certainly forward.'_

"Wh-"

"Shhhh. Keep moving. We're being followed…" Her breath hitched.

"Demons?" She whispered softly. He nodded once.

"Yeah, I think there's two of them…I didn't know they were this close though…" He looked back at her, his blue eyes full of determination. "I won't let them touch you. I'll get you out of here." His eyes widened, and he yanked her into his chest, twisting their bodies around so that he was covering her entirely.

She felt his body flinch, and heard a light grunt. He loosened his grip around her and whipped around to face the assailants. She gasped as she saw several slashes on his back, blood running down at a fairly quick pace.

"Cut the crap and get your asses out here!!" Naruto challenged loudly. Two beings jumped from out of nowhere. Both were dressed in a similar garb of a black cloak, which was torn down at their feet, both wore a strange breathing mask of some kind. Both of them had horns. One had a single horn some from the middle of his forehead, pointing to the sky. The other had two protruding from his temples, pointing up as well. They had black hair that fell in front of their faces, giving them more of a wild look in their eyes.

"_**Well, well…what do we have here?"**_

"**_I wonder if this is the slayer we've been hearing about eh, brother?"_** The two horned demons eyes glinted maliciously.

"**_The Jinchuuriki, huh? Sounds like this will be fun."_**

Naruto reached in his pocket, pulling out a small ball, and threw it onto the ground. Smoke quickly filled the area, as well as a disgusting smell that made Sakura gag and her eyes water.

"**Kage Bushin No Jutsu!!!** **Henge!!!"** Sakura felt her feet being swept off the ground, and felt the wind quickly blow by. When she was able to see again, she saw that Naruto was carrying her once more, jumping rooftop to rooftop. His face was grim as they made their way quickly across the city. Within minutes, they found themselves at her house. He set her down gently, and backed away. "They shouldn't come after you. They'll be to busy with the other me's to even bother coming after you." He told her. She tried to get around to see his back, but he stepped in front of her. She tried to look over his shoulder.

"Are you alright?"

"It's no big deal, so don't worry about it." She looked at him in shock and anger.

"No big deal?! You've could've been killed!" He smiled sadly.

"It's no big deal because I'm not the real one. Stay here, you'll be safe." He said. He took a couple steps back, then disappeared in a cloud of smoke. She gasped as the smoke cleared

'_That wasn't the real Naruto?! How…'_ She looked back in the direction they came. '_Is he still back there then?'_ She couldn't help the feeling of dread that came over her when she thought about Naruto alone with the two demons.

* * *

The two brothers weren't affected by the smell from the bomb since they had masks, but the smoke slightly distorted their vision. They didn't bother chasing after the clones that served as a distraction. They only wanted the slayer, not the girl. And Uzumaki Naruto gave them what they wanted. 

"_**Getting straight to the point…I like that… but this won't take long slayer."**_

"**_Our claws are poisonous, and there's no antidote. You won't live long."_** Naruto let out a chilling laugh, and turned away from the demons

"I normally don't turn my back on demons, but I'll do it just this once…" He lifted his shirt up over the slashes on his back. The wounds began to slowly pump out a black liquid, the poison. Then the wounds began to thread together on its own. He let his shirt drop and faced the demons again. "It's gonna take a lot more than poison to kill me." One of the demons laughed

"_**A Jinchuuriki you may be, but you're still a pathetic human."**_

"_**You'll die all the same boy…"**_

Naruto let out a snort and let his gaze fall to the ground.

"It's the same with you bastards as well…" His head jerked upwards, and his eyes flashed red for a second. "I'll burn your corpses and watch your ashes scatter into the wind!"

* * *

There you go. Hope you liked it. I would normally add something down here, but its almost three in the morning and I'm really too tired to think of anything to say right now. I have to go to work later in the day as well, so sleep is a must. I thank all of you who like my story and reviewed, I continue this story for you guys. Have a great week, and I'll try and get back to your replies as best as I can.

BTD


	4. Sensei

Sorry for the lateness. I had more hours added on to my work schedule, so I had less and less time to myself. It may be like this for the next couple weeks as well, so updates are gonna be slow for awhile again(once they find out your not a minor and not going to college, they take full advantage of your time. Go to college people, I'm sure as hell am going to make the switch). Thank you guys for still being interested in the story, and thanks to those of you who pointed out the mistakes in the other chapters. I may have graduated high school, but only at an average level. I'm also sorry to those I haven't replied back too. Anyways, here's Chapter Four.

_

* * *

_

Chapter Four: Sensei

'_What the heck am I doing?'_ Sakura thought as she ran back towards the battle. She had been running for about ten minutes, and still had a ways to go to reach Naruto again. But as she thought about the possible outcome, she began to slow down. _'I'll only get in the way…but…'_ Her speed increased as her resolve came back _'I have to do something!!'_

* * *

The fight wasn't going quite as Naruto planned. The two brothers were better than he gave credit for. They worked together without any flaws in their strikes. When Naruto focused on one, the other always came up behind him, forcing Naruto to back away. His clothes were torn, and body covered in deep gashes. The brothers were always one step ahead of him.

And he was getting pissed about it.

They were currently chuckling to themselves at the boy before them. Naruto on the other hand, was panting hard, glaring at them with one eye, as the other was swollen shut.

'_Damn it!! Why the hell am I having so much trouble with these guys…They're just B-class, nothing big!' _

_"**Pathetic…Am I right brother?"**_

_"**Indeed. This child's power is a joke…"**_ Naruto snarled at them, His hands forming into a tight fist, causing his knuckles to pop. Inside the back of his mind, he heard a low growl.

'**_Use my chakra…Show them the real meaning of power!!'_**

'_Forget it! I don't need it!'_ The growl became a snarl.

'**_Can't you see? They're mocking you! They are nothing but scum! Put them in their place!'_** Naruto shook his head furiously.

"Shut up! Leave me alone!!" The brothers began laughing out right at him.

_"**Looks like the boy has finally realized that he can't win."**_ The single horned demon stepped forward, flashing his claws.

_"**I should take care of him now then, shouldn't I?"**_ He charged forward, his claws pulled back for the final blow.

'**_TAKE IT!!!'_** Naruto let out a feral scream, and a red shroud over took him. The demon did not pull back, and instead increased his speed. His brother, though, felt the terrible aura surrounding Naruto.

_"**Wait! Pull back!"**_ When the demon was about to strike, Naruto crossed his arms across his chest, and slowly relaxed his hands. His injuries began to heal immediately, and regained the sight in his swollen eye. His nails began to grow into sharpened claws, and his two k-nine teeth grew as well, poking out from his upper lip. In one, smooth motion, Naruto slashed out at the demon. The demon collapsed.

Naruto stood hunched over, breathing heavily. His torso and arms were soaked in blood, which slowly dripped off the end of his newly formed claws. Before him, laid the dead body of one of the demon brothers, his head nearly severed from his body. He turned his eyes to the other demon, who backed away in fear. Naruto's eyes were no longer blue and circular, but instead red with slits.

_"**Kyu…Kyuubi-sama!!!"**_ The demon sputtered out. Naruto growled, showing his fangs.

"**_Too late…"_** The red shroud came back out, and rushed at the demon, smothering it. He screamed as he felt his skin slowly begin to melt away from his body.

_"**P-please!! Let me go!! I can be of use to you!!"**_ Naruto walked forward until he was only a couple feet away from the withering demon. He then began to examine a bloodied claw.

"**_I recall you saying something just a few minutes ago…what was it? Oh yes…"_** Naruto drove the hand through the demons neck, and watched as the demon choke on its own blood. He ripped out his hand, blood spraying onto his face. **_"Pathetic…Am I right?"_** The demon let out one last gurgled breath, then fell lifelessly to the ground. Naruto flicked his wrist, letting the specks of blood fly. He suddenly cringed, grabbing his head in pain.**_ "D-damn it!! Get out!! Leave my body alone you stupid fox!!"_** He began thrashing wildly about, clawing his head so that he began to bleed.

"Naruto!" To his right, Kakashi jumped into view wearing his usual attire of black pants and long shirt. He pulled out a slip of paper from his pants pocket as Naruto snarled at him, flashing his teeth

"_**Get away from me!!"**_

"Calm down, I'm here to help you."

"**_I said get away!!"_** Naruto charged blindly at him, slashing about in every direction. Kakashi easily dodged the sloppy attacks, ducking and turning at each thrust. He then elbowed Naruto, causing the boy to lurch forward. Kakashi pinned the paper to his forehead in that instant. The wild look in Naruto's eyes vanished into a blank stare. His teeth and claws instantly shrunk back to their normal size, and his eyes returned back to their deep blue. Kakashi caught him as he fell forward, passed out from the effects from the seal.

He half dragged, half carried Naruto to a nearby tree and set him down against it. Shaking his head, he pulled out a small phone and quickly dialed a number.

"It's me. I made it a little too late I'm afraid."

"**He used the Kyuubi's power, right?"** The voice on the other end answered.

"Yeah. Though he did fight back in the end." The other voice groaned loudly.

"**That punk…"** The voice sighed **"How many tails?" **

"None. But he was beginning to grow one from the look of things." The voice stayed silent for a moment, then continued.

"**Is he alright?"** Kakashi glanced at him with his one eye.

"Sleeping like a baby. Though he may be out for awhile. A day at most." A snort was heard.

"**Bah! He'll be awake quicker than that. Kid never stays down for too long. Keep an eye on him though, and smack him for losing control so easily. I didn't train him so he'd screw up like that." **Kakash chuckled, **"I'll try and come as soon as I can, but I need to meet with one of my subordinates. Can you handle everything tonight?"**

"Of course. I'll talk to you later Jiraiya-sama."

"**Right."** Kakashi hung up and slipped the phone back into his pocket.

Glancing around the area, Kakashi let out a small sigh.

"Guess I'm stuck with the clean up…" He glared at the unconscious boy. "Why must you always make everything difficult for us?" Pulling out several tags, he threw them onto the corpses and watched them burst into flames. "Though there are times when you can be creative." Kakashi stretched out his arms in a lazy manner, satisfied with his work. "Well, better get him home-"

"Kakashi-sensei?!"

"Eh?"

* * *

'_Almost there…'_ Sakura continued her quick pace, though she was getting tired from the non-stop running. Finally, she saw a flash of light in the distance, and the familiar flickering of light from a fire. _'He must be done already…but with two against one? That was fast.'_ She slowed down as she came upon the smoldering remains, and examined the scene. When she glanced away from the ashes, she gasped. There stood her literature teacher Kakashi, stretching out his arms like he was bored. 

"Kakashi-sensei?!" She half shouted in disbelief. He froze mid-stretch, his one eye looking at her in confusion.

"Eh?"

"What are you doing here?" With his arms still in the air, he pointed a finger at her.

"That's what I want to know." Sakura was at a loss of words for the moment, trying to come up with an excuse.

'_Is he…Is he like Naruto?'_ That's when her gaze fell on said boy, slumped over against a tree.

"Naruto!!" She rushed over to where he was, or would have if Kakashi hadn't caught her arm.

"Easy now. Naruto's fine, let him rest." She saw his clothes stained with enormous amounts of blood, and wasn't convinced by Kakashi's words.

"But-"

"He did what he had to in order to defeat them. But if it makes you feel any better, the majority of blood on him is not his…" He said that last sentence a little too cheerfully for her taste, though she did relax slightly in his grip. "Guess Naruto explained everything to you if you're here."

She looked up at Kakashi.

"Huh?"

"Right before he left to meet up with you today, Naruto told me you saw him slay a demon last night. Is that correct?" She gave Kakashi a pointed look.

"Are you also somebody that hunts down and kills demons?" She asked him. He shrugged, letting go of her arm.

"I do my part from time to time." He pointed his thumb over his shoulder at Naruto. "But I mostly try and keep him out of trouble, since we both know Naruto has a tendency to attract unwanted attention to himself. Whether it's at school or slaying demons." A low groan interrupted their conversation, and the two turned their attention to Naruto.

"Nnnrghh…My body feels like it's on fire…" The teen said as he used the tree to push himself up.

"Speaking of the devil…" Naruto glared at Kakashi as the he was helped up by the man.

"Don't call me that."

"Ah. Right, sorry. Slip of the tongue there for a moment." Naruto let out a quiet snort.

Sakura took several steps towards them, catching Naruto's attention and saw his eyes widen in shock.

"Sakura-chan! What are you doing here?!" she blushed, and looked away in embarrassment and guilt.

"Well, I-"

"I told you it was dangerous! What if you got hurt?!" Feeling her anger slowly grow within, she glared at him, standing her ground._ 'Like hell I'm gonna let him make me look like the idiot!'_

"Moron! I came back because I was worried about you!" Naruto was taken aback at her response, and could only watch as she made her way behind him and Kakashi in order to examine his back. He heard her gasp lightly, and he craned his neck so he could try and look at her.

Sakura could only look in amazement at Naruto's back. His jacket and shirt were ripped to shreds. Nothing more than torn ribbons stained in blood. But underneath the cloth, his skin was perfectly smooth and clean of the slashes he received earlier. She ran her fingers lightly across his back, causing him to stiffen up. Kakashi held back any laughter at the stricken look on Naruto's face, but he let out a snort when the teen blushed madly.

"Where are your-"

"I took care of his injuries. Isn't that right Naruto?" Kakashi nudged him to get his attention, smiling at him underneath his mask.

"Right…Kakashi-sensei healed my injuries." She pulled back her hand, and moved back in front of the two once more.

"Oh…that's right, you guys can do that sort of thing…" He sent a grateful grin to Kakashi, who nodded in return.

"Well, I think it's about time you head back home Sakura." Kakashi said as he readjusted Naruto to get a better grip on him. "I'll take care of Naruto, so there's nothing for you to worry about." He cut her off before she could get a word in. She blushed lightly, and looked away.

"A-alright."

"Are you gonna be alright heading home Sakura-chan?"

"Sakura will be fine Naruto. For now, I'm more concerned about getting you back home…I have a few things to discuss with you, so we need to get going." Kakashi replied for her, then half dragged Naruto away in the opposite direction.

"H-hey! Hold on a sec! Damn it sensei!!" Naruto protested loudly against the grey haired man. Kakashi waved back at Sakura with one hand.

"See you in class tomorrow Sakura! It'll be another free day since I haven't finished my book yet, and won't finish it tonight thanks to genius here."

Sakura shook out of her embarrassed state, and began walking towards them.

"Wait Kakashi-sensei!" Kakashi stopped, and turned his head back, giving Sakura an intense look from his single exposed eye.

"Go home, Sakura. Tomorrow is another day." Sakura froze at the tone Kakashi used. Kakashi may be a laid back, but out of all the teachers at the school, Kakashi was one of the most unforgiving ones there when it came down to it. When he used that tone, he was dead serious with the situation at hand. Sakura wisely backed down, and nodded at him.

"Yeah…I'll see you both tomorrow."

"Good."

"Bye Sakura-chan! Don't let this pervert get to you!!" Naruto shouted over his shoulder as the two disappeared into the distance.

'_Pervert?'_ She hadn't seen Kakashi do anything perverted…but then again Naruto knows him better than she does. She rubbed her arms and began her trek back to her home. _'The more I see the less I know about everything that's going on here…I hate being left out of the loop.'_

* * *

When Kakashi and Naruto were out of clear sight of Sakura, Naruto broke free from Kakashi and walked ahead of him. 

"Naru-."

"Yeah I know…I messed up again." He cut Kakashi off, his tone not the normal friendly one he used with Kakashi.

"You need to control-"

"My temper. I know, I know…" Naruto was pulled back by the shoulder so that he was facing Kakashi.

"If you know then why did you let that happen?" Naruto couldn't answer him, and instead glared at the nearest rock on the ground. "Naruto-"

"You guys can tell me to control my emotions all you want…" The teen interrupted, then gazed back at Kakashi. "But having to deal with that bastard egging me on every time I get into a fight, well…It's hard to stay focused on keeping my temper controlled."

"But it's not impossible." Naruto let out a low grunt, not fully convinced. Kakashi placed a hand on Naruto's head and ruffled his hair up. "Remember, you're not alone in this Naruto. We're here for you."

"Yeah…"

The two were silent as they entered the slums of Konoha. They would get looks due to the condition of Naruto's clothing, but it did not affect them. When they entered Naruto's shabby home, Kakashi glanced around the place, eyeing the broken windows and cracks in the walls.

"You know, Tsunade-sama's offer still stands. Even Jiraiya-sama said you could move in with him .Why don't you take one of their offers?" Naruto turned and gave him a flat look.

"My money wouldn't be safe near the both of them. Baa-chan would gamble it away, and ero-senin would steal it then spend it at the bars and brothels."

"Ah…you make a good point."

"Besides, I've been living alone pretty much my whole life. I'm doing fine." Kakashi shrugged.

"If you insist." Naruto paused at the middle of the stairway, letting out a yawn.

"Was there something else you needed sensei?"

Kakashi glanced at Naruto out of the corner of his eye.

"How much does Sakura know?" He asked. Naruto scratched his head, and looked up in thought.

"The basics. Demon classes, the kages, the usual." Naruto turned to look at Kakashi. "But I haven't told her about the Bijuu…I want to keep it that way if it's alright." Kakashi nodded.

"Of course. Though if she keeps hanging around you, she'll find out eventually…as well as your secret. It would be best to stay away from her if you want to keep you secret a secret."

"Yeah. But I can't just tell her to buzz off." Kakashi raised his visible brow.

"Hmm? Why not? You have no trouble telling off me and the others." Naruto paled slightly scratching the side of his head.

"Sakura-chan is scary when she's mad…worse than Baa-chan." Naruto heard the older man snort.

"I see. You don't have a spine when it comes to her." The teen glared at him.

"If it means I'll live to see tomorrow, then yeah I'll be a wimp." Naruto let out another yawn, then rubbed his eyes. "I'm gonna get some sleep. See you in the morning sensei!"

"Jiraiya-sama is going to try and come by tonight or in the morning."

"Yeah, yeah. He's just gonna tell me off too...G'night." He then disappeared into the room above, leaving Kakashi alone.

Shaking his head, Kakashi began to make his way out of the building. He reached into his pocket, pulling out a crisp, orange colored book flipping to the middle and began reading.

'_Naruto is losing more control every time the Kyuubi gets involved…I may have to contact Tenzou again, and have Naruto spend some time training with him. Though things would be easier if he didn't lose that necklace Tsunade-sama gave him as a child.'_ He let out a sigh. _'Can't trust him with anything. Then there's the situation with Sakura…I guess we'll have to see how things play out with her and Naruto in the future.'_

_

* * *

_Hope you liked it. I have to go to work now, so thanks for reading and I'll see you guys later. 

_BTD_


	5. Family

Holy crap! Over fifty reviews! When I started this story, I was only experimenting with the plot, and now look where it's at. You guys are totally awesome. I was so happy about it, that I spent the majority of my free time trying to pump out the next chapter. I usually stop at six pages, but this one ended at eight. I couldn't find any go spots to stop, and I felt like doing more since I was in a good mood. Anyway, don't ley me keep you guys anymore. Enjoy chapter five!!

_

* * *

_

Chapter Five: Family

'_Ahhh…This is good…all nice and comfy and warm… I could stay like this all day…'_ Naruto thought to himself, then curled into a tighter ball in his blanket. The smile on his face seemed to grow wider, as he let out a content sigh. But then the smile turned to a frown, and his brows furrowed in thought._ 'Wasn't there something I was supposed to do today?'_ He shrugged to himself, and the contented smile returned to his face and he burrowed deeper into his blankets. _'Oh well.'_

Then, the warm embrace of his small, measly(but sufficient) bed was replaced by the sting of ice cold, water. He let out a high pitched scream, rolling out of his mattress instantly. He began shivering, rubbing his arms quickly up and down, and looked up to find out the perpetrator. His eyes widened for a moment, but then turned into a glare. He pointed a shaky finger at the assailant.

"You! What the hell is your problem!!" He then pointed back at his now soaked blanket and mattress. "Do you know how long that's gonna take to dry!? Why couldn't you just shake me or kick me awake like a normal person!!"

"Ha! Like that would have worked. You sleep like a rock kid."

The man who stood before Naruto was tall, and had long, shaggy white hair flowing like a mane down his back. On his forehead he wore a metal plate that held back his bangs. His eyes were full of mischief, and the red stripes that ran down under his eyes seemed to amplify that. He wore simple clothes, a white robe, loose pants, and a red vest on the outside of his robe. He dropped the empty bucket and pulled Naruto to his feet by his ear.

"Come on, we need to go see Kakashi. The school day should be done by now."

"What?! You're telling me I slept all through the morning?"

"And some of the afternoon. Now come on." The man threw some clothes at Naruto, who caught it awkwardly. "Get dressed so we can get going." Naruto pulled the shirt over his head and began scrambling around his room for some of his things.

"Damn! Iruka-sensei is gonna be pissed at me for missing another day." He turned to glare at the man once more. "Kakashi-sensei said you were supposed to show up this morning…Why were you late?" The man crossed his arms, looking away with a huff.

"I had to meet with some contacts last night. Things took longer than usual." Naruto snorted.

"More like you were hung over at a brothel ero-sennin…"

"Jiraiya! It's Jiraiya you punk!"

* * *

"Ok guys, pack up your things. The bell is going to ring in five, but you might as well leave now…I could really care less if I get in trouble with the other staff…" Kakashi told his students, without looking up from his shabby looking book. The majority of the students let out quiet whoops of joy and walked out. Kakashi continued reading his book, thumbing to the next page. 

"Kakashi-sensei?" Still looking at the book, he held up a finger.

"Five minutes Sakura. Five minutes is all I ask. I just got to the good part, and I'm not going to stop here."

"Uhhh…alright. Five minutes then. I'll wait at my desk…"

"Good. Now quiet, my book beckons me." Sakura eyed her sensei warily, but moved to her desk and pulled out some work from her other classes. She made the move to begin, but she paused before her pen hit the paper.

'_Naruto didn't show up again today. But if something happened to him, then Kakashi-sensei would have told me…hopefully.'_

"He's fine by the way. Most likely overslept again, so you don't have to worry about him." She heard Kakashi say. She blushed.

"Am I that transparent?"

"A little. It's natural to be a little enamored with the person who saved your life." She nearly fell out of her chair from the statement, then began sputtering indignantly.

"What?!" Kakashi began waving his free hand to calm her down.

"Don't freak out so much. Naruto's a good kid, nothing to be ashamed of."

"I-I'm not ashamed! It's just embarrassing to think about." She straightened up in her chair, brushing out her outfit. "Naruto and myself…like _that_…" Kakashi shrugged.

"You never know. It could happen. Now I'm going to get back to my book if you don't mind." Sakura couldn't come up with anything else to say, and could only stay silent. The next couple minutes were uncomfortable for Sakura while Kakashi continued reading. Then something unexpected happened. Kakashi giggled.

Not chuckle. Giggled. A very girly giggle.

Sakura slowly raised her gaze to her sensei, and saw that Kakashi's eye was closed in a pleased way. Another giggle escaped his lips, and Sakura felt slightly disturbed.

"S-sensei? Are you alright?" He put a finger to his masked lips.

"Shhh…Don't want to hear it." She glared at him, then at his book.

'_The only time I hear a giggle like that is when mother is reading _**Icha Icha Paradise**_…"_ She squinted at the cover of the book _'But the cover for that is orange…not a torn brown one…'_ Resting her chin on her hand, she kept her glare on the book. _'What is he reading?'_ The door to the class room suddenly burst open, with a smoke bomb going off.

"Fear not!"

* * *

**_Several minutes before…_**

"Hurry up kid, I don't have all day."

"I'm sure your _busy_ schedule only consists of drinking, and peeping on girls."

"I have to do my research so I can get the next volume of my series out." Naruto rolled his eyes

"Right, peeping. Listen I'm gonna get a soda. I'll meet you in Kakashi-sensei's room." Jiraiya waved him off.

"Fine, fine, go get your liquid sugar." _'It's the last thing you need right now.'_ The two went their separate ways at the fork in the hallway, and within minutes Jiraiya was in front of Kakashi's door. He pulled out a pocket watch to check the time and grinned. "Class hasn't been dismissed yet…This is a perfect time to introduce myself to Kakashi's students." He slipped out a smoke bomb, tossing it up and down leisurely. Using little strength, he kicked open the door and threw the smoke bomb down in front of him. "Fear not!" He did a flip through the smoke, landing gracefully on his feet, then bent his knees low. "There is nothing to be afraid of!" Pulling out two fans from seemingly nowhere, he opened them dramatically, holding them out to his sides. "For I am Mt. Myobokugama's holy master sennin…" He stood up straight, closing one fan and pointed it at the other end of the room. "Or simply known as Jiraiya the toad sennin!!" He declared loudly, finally ending his opening speech. He paused, eyes closed and a wide grin on his face, waiting for the expected on coming praise.

There was silence…

"My students are already gone Jiraiya-sama. I dismissed them early." Jiraiya's eye twitched, and he slumped his shoulders.

"Now why did you go and do that? I was finally looking forward to meeting your 'cute' students you keep talking about."

"Well I wanted to finish this chapter, so I set them free earlier than usual." Kakashi pointed to Jiraiya's right. "But one did stay. I'm sure she was impressed by your mind blowing display." Jiraiya looked over and saw an open mouthed Sakura, eye twitching and all, staring at him. His eyes lit up immediately

"Oh ho! Who do we have here?" He was instantly at her side, causing her to yelp in surprise. He pulled out a small note book and began taking down notes. "Now what's your name little lady?"

"H-Haruno Sakura." She stuttered, still trying to get over the shock from earlier.

"Sakura eh? Such a pretty name." He scribbled down some more notes. "And you're seventeen correct?" she raised her brow getting suspicious.

"What of it?" He waved her off.

"Nothing you need to worry about. Now what is your dress size?"

"What?!"

A loud 'thunk' sounded through the air and Jiraiya fell forward, crashing onto the ground. Next to his head, a full, dented soda can.

"Damn it ero-sennin! Stay away from Sakura-chan or I'll kick your ass!" At the doorway stood Naruto, hands clenched into tight fists and his teeth gritting. Jiraiya suddenly stood up, grabbing the can and chucked it back at Naruto, pegging the teen on the forehead.

"Ha! You need more training on you reaction time boy!! We're gonna do extra rounds tonight so we can ingrain that into that tiny brain of yours." Naruto let out a small growl, then charged at Jiraiya. Kakashi suddenly appeared behind Naruto, grabbing the back of his shirt to hold him back.

"I would appreciate if the two of you would not destroy my class room in one of your petty arguments." The two of them looked away, grumbling to themselves all the while. "Now was there something you needed Jiraiya-sama?" Jiraiya sobered up instantly, standing taller and crossing his arms.

"Last night. I wanted more details on what happened."

"Right." Kakashi pulled out several bills and shoved them into Naruto's pants pocket. "Take Sakura to Ichiraku's, we'll meet you there alright?" Naruto's eyes lit up instantly, and he broke free of Kakashi's grip.

"Hey you don't have to tell me twice!" Naruto went over to Sakura and grabbed her arm then began dragging her out of the room.

"Hey! What about my stuff!"

"Kakashi-sensei and ero-sennin will bring them to the stand. Come on! I wanna get good seats."

When the two teens went past Jiraiya, he noticed a green glint near Sakura's neck. Then he saw the stone itself slip into view. His eyes narrowed, as the two exited the room. He turned to face Kakashi.

"Did you see that Kakashi?"

"See what?"

"That girl's necklace. It's Tsunade's." Kakashi's eye widened.

"What? How do you know that?"

"It's one of a kind. I'd know that stone anywhere." Kakashi glanced back at the door.

"Didn't Naruto say he lost it?"

"Yeah, and Tsunade beat the snot out of him for it too." Jiraiya let out a small chuckle. "That was the best day of my life…"

"So how did Sakura end up with it then?"

"Most likely she found it when he lost it. But the question is how do we get it back to Naruto?"

"Ah. That is a good question. That's something we'll have to discuss as well."

* * *

"You can stop pulling my shoulder out of its socket now Naruto!" 

"Oh, sorry." He let go of her arm and they both slowed down to a walk. When she got a look at their surroundings, they were already outside of the school.

"So why were we kicked out of the room?"

"They just wanted to talk alone. Come on! Ichiraku's is near here, and I'm starving! Ero-sennin woke me up about a half-hour ago to drag me here, so I didn't have time to eat anything." He sped up a little bit after that, placing his hands behind his head, grinning widely. She jogged to catch up to him.

"You've been asleep this entire time?" she asked. He glanced at her out of the corners of his eye.

"Last night took more out of me than I thought. But I'm ok now, otherwise I'd still be out cold in my bed."

"Does it ever get worse than last night?"

Naruto looked up to the sky in thought, remaining silent for several minutes. "Naruto?" He turned and grinned at her

"It's a nice day for ramen, let's hurry up and get there." He left it at that and increased his speed once more. Sakura let out a sigh._ 'He probably knew I wasn't going to like the answer. But by not saying anything at all only proves that he's been in worse situations…'_ She decided to leave the subject alone, and jogged to keep up with him.

They soon came upon a medium sized shack nearby. On the top, 'Ichiraku's' was spelled out on a large sign. The building itself could seat about ten people, but there were extra chairs and folded tables behind the stand. Naruto glided into one of the center stools and slammed his palm onto the tabletop.

"Hey ji-san! You in there?" from the back came a slightly over weight old man wearing a cooks apron came out drying a large bowl. When he saw Naruto, he smiled widely.

"Naruto! Where the heck have you been?" Naruto chuckled, then pulled out the wad of cash Kakashi had given him earlier.

"I've been busy, but Kakashi-sensei agreed to pay today. Bring me three of the usual," Naruto turned to Sakura "Did you want anything Sakura-chan?" Sakura sat down next to him and adjusted herself until she was comfortable.

"I guess I'll have what he's getting…but one order, please." The old man nodded.

"Four orders of large miso ramen coming up!" satisfied with the order, Sakura turned to face Naruto.

"So…how long have you known Kakashi-sensei?"

"Hm? I guess ever since I could remember…When I was a kid he was one of the people that came by to make sure I was doing ok…still does every once in awhile."

"You live by yourself?" she asked.

"Yeah, always have."

"What about your parents." He shrugged.

"Never had any." She winced. _'Bad question.'_

"I'm sorry…"

"It doesn't bother me. I always had someone come by to see me. I have family. Not by blood, but they're family." He pulled out his wallet, opened it and slipped out a picture, putting it on the table for her to see. "I'm about eight years old in that picture."

There were six people in the picture, all of them wearing festival robes. Sakura couldn't hold back the giggle as she saw a small, grinning Naruto chasing after a frightened little pig in the picture. Behind him was a young black haired woman chasing after him with a panicked expression on her face. Standing behind her were four others, two she recognized as a younger Kakashi, who was reading a book. The other was Jiraiya, who was drinking with a blond haired woman with rather large breasts. Both of them looked drunk, and were laughing at the younger woman. The last person in the picture was a very old bearded man. He wore white robes, and at his side was a pointed red and white pointed hat. He was smiling widely at the scene before him, but he seemed more amused by Naruto's antics than anything else. Sakura turned to Naruto, smiling.

"They look like wonderful people." Naruto smiled back, nodding. Then began pointing out the people in the picture.

"The pig is Ton-ton. Earlier that day I found out the little porker ate my sweets, so I was gonna dye his skin blue. The one chasing me is Shizune nee-chan. She did a lot of my grocery shopping when I was that age, making sure that I ate right and that kind of stuff. She's also a medic, specializing in medicinal herbs." He then pointed to the other woman in the picture. "That's Tsunade baa-chan. Don't let her looks fool you, she's really over fifty."

"You're kidding…she only looks like she's thirty." She said in disbelief.

"She's using genjutsu to disguise her real age."

"And genjutsu is?"

"It's a technique that allows you to cast illusions on people or yourself…I'm not into genjutsu all that much… but the reason baa-chan uses genjutsu on herself is to keep the loan sharks off her back."

"…loan sharks?" Sakura said flatly.

"Baa-chan is a gambler…but she loses every time, and they try to collect what she owes. So she runs off and disguises herself to avoid the debt collectors…which I think is kinda pointless because she could kill them with a flick of her finger." Sakura laughed thinking it was a joke, but Naruto's face remained neutral. "I'm not kidding, baa-chan has freakish strength…"

"How?"

"It's because of her control of chakra…Chakra is pretty much your stamina or energy or…something like that. I use it to do the techniques to fight demons. Kakashi-sensei can explain it to you later. But baa-chan has such great control over her chakra that she can make it hurt like hell when she hits you. But she's more known about being the best medic out there. She's the one that taught Shizune nee-chan everything she knows. She also showed me a few things, like how to treat some injuries. Like your leg the first night I found you." Sakura looked the at the blond woman in the picture once more.

"Amazing." She whispered. Naruto nodded in agreement. Then pointed at Jiraiya.

"You already met ero-sennin…and there's really nothing interesting about him unless being a pervert is interesting to you, which I don't think that is… though I'll admit he's really strong, since he taught me some of the strongest techniques I know…but other than that, he's a pervert. And you know Kakashi-sensei already."

"Who's that?" she pointed at the old man in the picture.

Nartuo looked at the man, then a sad smile crept slowly on his face.

"Yeah…that was my oji-san…he died five years ago. It's because of him I became the person I am today. He raised me when I was a baby, taught me how to fight until the others came, then they began teaching me." He grabbed the picture and began folding it up to put it away. "I never liked school to be honest. I was raised to fight demons my entire life. But oji-san always wanted me to go to school, so I could be around other kids my age." He chuckled sadly. "I always argued with him about it, saying it was a waste of time since it had nothing to do with fighting demons. But he would insist that it was good for social experience." He sighed deeply. "Then he was killed…and I couldn't even help him or at least say goodbye." He shook his head quickly switching back to his usual grin. "Gah! Look at me going off like that. What am I doing? Sorry about that Sakura-chan." He began rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. Sakura reached over and lightly held his free hand.

"You don't have to apologize for anything Naruto…" He stared in wonder at her gesture, not comprehending it quite yet. Both made eye contact at the same time, and he smiled.

"Thank you." He said softly. she smiled back.

"Order up!" a shout broke through the peaceful atmosphere, and the two teens instantly broke their contact and blushed with embarrassment. The old man laid down two large bowls in front of each of them, along with chopsticks. "I'll bring the other bowls for you later kid."

"R-right, thanks ji-san…" the old man grunted, but a small, knowing smile slipped on his face as he entered the back." They both broke their chopsticks and began eating quietly. But as soon as Naruto took the first bite, he perked back to his usual self and began eating his ramen ravenously. Sakura paused in her eating and could only stare at the teen in disgust and slight wonder. He finished his bowl within a minute, and drank what was left of the broth. He set the bowl down with a content sigh, then looked at Sakura. "Aren't you hungry Sakura-chan?" she set down her chopsticks and pushed the bowl his way.

"Not so much anymore…take it." his eyes brightened instantly, and he grabbed it.

"Thanks!!" he began eating her bowl with as much gusto as before, never slowing down once. He finished that bowl just as quickly and stacked it in the other. "So what about you Sakura-chan? Do you have and brothers or sisters?"

"No. I'm an only child. Both my parents are still married. I have relatives, though none of them are near my age. The cousins I have are my mothers cousins, and she only has two. So I really don't have any one to talk to at the gatherings."

"But you still get to see them sometimes though right?"

"Yeah, at festivals and whatnot." Naruto smiled.

"That's great. Bet those days are fun."

"Yeah, but we haven't gone to a festival since I was in middle school. My dad is busy with work and I have more homework since entering high school. Life is just like that I guess."

"You should come with us sometime! It'll be a night you won't forget with Naruto and Tsunade-hime bickering back and forth. Those nights never get boring." A voice boomed behind them.

"Though the arguments between the master and student can be quite entertaining as well." Another voice added, more quietly than the other. The teens turned around and saw Jiraiya and Kakashi walking towards them, though Kakashi reading his book. Only it wasn't his book…It was **Icha Icha Paradise**. Sakura gapped, pointing at the book. Kakashi shrugged, taking a seat next to her as Jiraiya looked proud.

"Oh? I see you've heard of my book then. Have you read it little lady? It's the best book you've ever read now isn't it?" Jiraiya crossed his arms, nodding to himself. "All the critics agree too you know." He held out his hand dramatically "'Icha Icha Paradise is a compelling read.'. 'Icha Icha Paradise is enchanting and exquisite'. And my favorite, 'The author of Icha Icha Paradise paints the details of human relationships with the finesse of a master.'." He finished with just as much dramatic air as before. "There are many more reviews I could cite, but it would take days to finish. It only proves that my book is the greatest!!" He began laughing manically, high off his own ego.

"That's because all the critics are perverts!" Naruto shouted, glaring at Jiraiya. Jiraiya stopped laughing and turned a glare of his own onto Naruto.

"You wouldn't know good literature even if it smacked you in the head!"

"Your book is not literature, it's smut! And the only people who read it are perverts, and desperate house wives looking for some extra excitement in their lives!" Sakura choked on air, then blushed deeply.

'_Is my mother so bored that she'd read porn novels?'_ She asked herself.

"Bah! You don't know anything! Teuichi!" Jiraiya slammed his hand on the table like Naruto did earlier, and the old man from earlier poked his head from around the corner. He grinned when he saw Jiraiya and Kakashi.

"What can I get for you Jiraiya-san, Kakashi-san?"

"Some sake and three dango sticks." He replied and sat down on the stool.

"I'm fine Teuichi-san, thank you though." Teuichi nodded.

"Sake and dango, coming up! And I'll bring out that ramen for you now Naruto." Both Naruto and Jiraiya said their thanks, but both sulked in their seats, still angry at the other.

Sakura glanced back at Kakashi, who was still reading his book. He glanced back at her.

"Yes?" he asked politely.

"Why do you read that book sensei?" his eye closed in amusement and he held the book to his chest.

"Because there's so much action and suspense that's it's addicting!" he said in an excited tone. "The characters, their backgrounds, their problems, the story, how it all flows, it's wonderful!"

"Ha! You see! Even Kakashi agrees with me and he's a literature teacher! How can you argue with that boy?" Jiraiya crowed out. Naruto threw up his hands in defeat.

"Perverts! All of you are freaking perverts!" He shouted into the air in despair. The two continued their arguing as Kakashi went back to his book. Teuichi dropped off both orders, but the two ignored the food, choosing to keep fighting with each other. The old man just grinned at Sakura, who couldn't quite make sense of all of it.

"They go through this almost everyday. It's routine for them. They may seem dysfunctional, but they still look out for each other like any other family." Sakura looked at Kakashi, who continued to calmly read his book. Then she turned to Naruto and Jiraiya, who still bickered. They may have been shouting at the top of their lungs, but the shine in their eyes showed that they might be enjoying the argument they're having. Sakura smiled to herself, then ordered dango for herself, feeling her appetite return. But then a sudden thought struck her

"Where the heck are my things?!"

* * *

And that's chapter five. On a side note, the reviews for Icha Icha Paradise were actual reviews from some of my mother's romance novels. She has a library of them in the basement, and I went through a couple and found the ones I wanted to use. Thank you New York Times, I had a very interesting half hour reading your reviews for some smut books. I have nothing against romance novels, but some of those books are just ridiculous. Anyways, See you all later, I have to go to work and I need to get some sleep so I can prepare for the sunday masses. Have a good week!

_BTD_


	6. Demons

Hi...Yeah, the only excuse I can offer for the lateness is that life got in the way. Which kinda sucks, because I wanted to be able to update this weekly at the least. But it may not be that easy now. I'm not giving up on the story. No way. But updates will be longer here on out, so that I can think about how I want it to turn out (and go to work). This chapter is short, and I tried to get it out as fast as I could, so there may be mistakes(and I may go back and change some things in the future...maybe)

I apologize to those that I haven't gotten back to in the reviews. I was really shocked to see this story get ten reviews in the first chapter, and now it has seventy-four!(my mind is boggled). I'm glad that everyone likes it. It makes me work harder to make sure that the story doesn't end up sucking. So, without further ado, here's chapter six...

_

* * *

_

Chapter Six: Demons

"Hah…hah…hah…."

'_**That was pathetic. Five low class demons and you're already out of breath.'**_

'_Shut up.'_

'**_You're technique was horrible as well. Letting your self get injured like that. I can't keep healing you all the time you know.'_**

'_Shut. Up.'_ The voice chuckled lightly.

'**_Just face it boy, you're nothing without me! You're a failure at everything you do! Just like the rest of your pathetic species.'_**

"**Shut up!"**

"Naruto!" An arm reached out, grabbing his shoulder and violently shook him. His panting turned to quick breaths as he faced Jiraiya. "Calm down. Ignore him." Naruto let out a low growl and shrugged him off.

"Easy for you to say." His knuckles began popping one at a time from his tightly clenched fists.

'**_Worthless…'_** Naruto's eyes flashed and he shook his head in annoyance.

"Furry bastard won't shut his mouth." He looked back at Jiraiya, still slightly annoyed. "Are we done now? It's one in the morning, and I wanna get some sleep." Jiraiya sighed, but waved him off.

"Go on, I'll see you later." Naruto nodded to him, then left his sensei to himself.

Jiraiya watched as Naruto walked off, rubbing his temples.

'_The situation is worse than I originally thought. The seal is deteriorating faster than before. I have to get in touch with Tsunade and see if we can come up with any solutions…'_ Letting out one more sigh, he walked off in the other direction. _'Until then, Naruto will have to put up with the Kyuubi's taunting a while longer.'_

For the entire walk back, Naruto trudged along slowly, feeling more tired than usual. The Kyuubi had quieted down, but Naruto could feel its energy lightly flowing throughout his body. Seeing an ally ahead, he quickened his pace and slipped through quietly, then leaned against the wall. Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath and relaxed his body.

'_What the hell do you want?'_

'**_Many things. But why would I want to tell you?'_** a low voice replied.

'_Then why is your chakra still going through me?'_

'**_Maybe you finally learned to enjoy the feeling of true power coursing through your veins.'_** Naruto groaned lightly.

'_Like I need you for anything!'_ A deep laugh echoed, and Naruto suddenly found himself being pulled into darkness. The laugh became louder as he saw two huge gates appear before him. Two large, yellow eyes opened slowly, and a large row of sharp, white teeth came from the blackness behind the bars. The teeth took the shape of a grin. The laughing continued on, bouncing all around the room.

"**_Listen boy. For thousands of years, hundreds have summoned me because they sought out my power. And I consumed every single one of them because they weren't worth my time, let alone to harness my chakra."_** The eyes moved to the right side of the cage. **_"Then the one human who stood against me, who impressed me with his defiance, sealed me away. Into a small, helpless infant."_** The eyes swooped from the side to the middle of the cage, getting close to Naruto as possible**_ "For many years I was silent, seething with anger. I wanted nothing to do with you, and prayed you would die quickly so that I may be free of my imprisonment in death. But then when I first met you…" _**The eyes bounced up and down along with the laughter. **_"You didn't quiver in fear, or look upon me in awe and wonder. You glared and openly insulted me without any caution, and demanded that I 'pay the rent that you owe'…or you so bluntly put it. That's when I saw it"_** A red shroud began to seep under the bars of the cage, before Naruto. **_"That defiance…you were like him."_** The shroud began to take the shape of the head of a fox. **_"The one who was worthy…"_** The fox head grinned maliciously down at Naruto. **_"I found you worthy as well, which was why I let you use my chakra. But my generosity doesn't come free."_** The fox snarled down at him, bearing its fangs.**_ "You use my chakra, then you belong to me!!"_**

Naruto glared back at the fox head, not once losing his nerve.

"I'm not one of your loyal servants! You're forgetting that you're the one in a cage fur ball." The jaws snapped at him, but Naruto didn't flinch from the sound or the gush of wind that blew past him from the pressure.

"**_Whether you like it or not, you will serve me…it's only a matter of time before you too fall like the others…" _**The fox head began to dissipate **_"Remember that boy…"_** The Darkness began to fade back into the dim light from the ally way. Naruto shook his head clear, pinching the bridge of his nose. He stood up straight, and began making his way back home once more. But the Kyuubi's chakra still flowed throughout Naruto's body, keeping him in a sour mood the entire walk back.

* * *

"So, I've noticed that you and Naruto have been hanging out, even after you turned in the project for Iruka-sensei's class." Sakura and Ino were sitting together on the steps in one of the stairways in their school, enjoying their lunch break. Ino nudged Sakura with her elbow, smirking at her lightly. "Is there something going on between the two of you?" Sakura rolled her eyes. 

"You always jump to conclusions too early Ino." She replied, then took a bite into her sandwich.

"Pfft. It's almost been two weeks now. And every time I see you, he's there. And you're not annoyed by him like you were before the project." Sakura shrugged.

"He's not as bad as people say. You just have to get to know him." A loud crash interrupted their small talk. The two girls stood up and leaned over the side railing to get a glance at the commotion below. A several students were circled around two others. One was on the ground, surrounded by a trash can and garbage. Sakura immediately recognized the student on the ground as Naruto. The other person, she couldn't recall, but she knew that the situation was bad.

"Well this ought to be good…" She heard Ino say. Sakura started down the stairs, a worried look on her face.

'_This isn't good.'

* * *

_

"What the hell is your problem! I apologized didn't I?" Naruto yelled, brushing some of the trash off of his clothes. He got to his feet and glared at his would be attacker. Kiba would sometimes mess with him, but that was fun between the two of them. He didn't even know this guy!

"Yeah, well I didn't like that tone of voice Uzumaki!"

'**_I don't like his either…you should knock him off his high horse…'_** The Kyuubi's voice rumbled inside Naruto's mind. He rolled his eyes, and began walking off, until someone pushed him back into the middle. He let out a low growl, turning back to the head of the group.

"I don't want to cause any trouble, so I'm just gonna leave now." He said, then walked off again. This time the one who shoved him grabbed his arm and pulled Naruto back so they were face to face.

"You're not going anywhere…"

When Naruto got a look at the boy's smug look, the Kyuubi's hatred and malice suddenly surged through his body.

'**_Insolent whelp!'_** Naruto's eyes flashed red, and he grabbed onto the boy's wrist, twisting it slowly. The boy screamed and his knees buckled up.

"Don't you _ever **touch** **me!**_" Naruto's voice took on a dark tone, as his pupils morphed into slits. His grip on the boy's wrist became tighter, and he grinned a little as he felt the bone crack.

"Aaaahhh! L-let go! Please let go!" He pleaded desperately to Naruto, falling to his knees in agony. Naruto bent down to his level, looking him in the eyes.

"**_Choose your battles wisely in the future, or it may cost you your life…"_** Naruto let out a satisfied hum when he saw the fear grow in the boy's eyes. Naruto readied his other hand for a strike, when a voice shouted out.

"Naruto!" Immediately, he snapped out of his feral like trance, and looked to the side were the shout came from. He saw Sakura through the crowd of students, looking back at him with worry and fear. He stared back, feeling ashamed of himself. In that moment, one of the boy's friends came and landed a punch on Naruto, knocking him to the ground, and freeing the injured boy. He tasted the blood in his mouth soon after.

"Let's get out of here!" Two others came and helped him up. He looked back at Naruto in fear.

"Freak…" Naruto flinched lightly at the remark and watched them walk off. Then he stood up and quickly pushed through the crowd to get away before he would get into any more trouble.

Sakura opted to take the long route rather than push through the dispersing crowd. She moved quickly to try and catch up with Naruto, before he disappeared from sight. He slammed open the door leading outside and continued his quick pace away from the building. Sakura burst from the door right after he did.

"Hey! Hold on a sec! Naruto!" She jogged up next to him, seeing the scowl on his face. "What was that? What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"That wasn't nothing-" He turned his scowl on to her, his eyes flashed red for a split second.

"It's nothing!" They both stopped, shocked at his outburst. When he saw the hurt in her eyes, he looked away in guilt. "Sorry…It was a long night." He sighed out, then sat down cross-legged on the concrete, running a hand through his hair. "Hardly got any sleep, got yelled at by Iruka-sensei again, then I accidentally bump into some jerk and well…you saw what happened." Sakura sat down next to him, leaning back on her hands.

"Want to talk about it?"

"Not really…It's hard to explain."

"You always have a hard time explaining anything Naruto." He winced, then chuckled lightly.

"Ouch Sakura-chan…that hurts…" She smiled playfully back.

"Truth hurts." She said in a light tone. He snorted to himself, then leaned back onto his hands like Sakura. "Are you having problems with demons?" she asked.

"One. Just one."

"Is it one that always gets away, and you're frustrated about it?"

"…Something like that." He mumbled. She let out a small laugh.

"Figures. Every time you talk about your night time activities, you like to brag on how you take down demons without any problems at all. There's always going to be one that gets away every once in awhile Naruto." He rolled his eyes.

"I get it, but this one's different…He toys with me and taunts me every time he pops up. I should be used to it by now since he's been around a long time, but…" He shook his head ruefully. "I guess it's because he's different from other demons is the reason why he gets to me." He pushed himself forward, crossing his arms and leaned onto his knees."

"So don't let him get to you." She replied. He let out a snort, and shook his head. "Really, you obviously don't care about what Jiraiya-san or Kakashi-sensei say, so why let a demon bother you so much?"

He jumped to his feet, brushing off his pants, then offered her a hand.

"The thing between me and him…well that's personal." He grinned when she rolled her eyes, but still grabbed his hand for the lift up. "But thanks anyway Sakura-chan." She smiled back.

"You're welcome." When she straightened up, the sun reflected from her necklace. Naruto's attention was drawn to it, and he leaned in close to get a better look.

"What's that?" she took a small step back and grabbed her necklace.

"This? It's something I had for years…" He glanced back at her.

"Can I see it for a sec?" He asked, and she shrugged.

"Sure." She removed it from around her neck and handed the stone to him.

As soon as he touched the stone, he instantly felt calmed by its cool touch. The Kyuubi's chakra seemed to disappear. He let out a heavy, yet relieved, sigh.

'_I remember this…this was baa-chan's…but that means…'_

"Where did you get this?" He asked softly.

"It was given to me. Well, technically I'm 'borrowing' it." She brushed back a stray lock of hair then continued. "I was five, and some boys were picking on me. Then another boy came and chased them off, and he gave me the necklace for good luck. I tried to give it back, but he said I could borrow until I didn't need it any more…" He smiled to himself.

'_Baa-chan wasn't happy when I told her I lost it.'_

"I never saw him after that, and carried it ever since. I want to give it back to him, but I barely remember him. Except his eyes…" She smiled fondly at him, feeling light. "He had such nice eyes." A small blush graced his features.

'_I have nice eyes?'_ He cleared his throat softly, and grinned at her. He grabbed her hand and placed the stone in her palm.

"I bet you'll find him again soon Sakura-chan. But if you're hanging around me you better hold on to it for a while longer. Whether it's with people or demons, I have lousy luck."

Sakura glanced down at their hands, then back at Naruto's grinning face. For a moment, she saw the little boy in his eyes. He raised a brow at her somewhat intense stare. "Something wrong Sakura-chan?" Before she could say anything, his pager went off. When he removed his hands from the stone, he felt the Kyuubi's chakra rush through his system once more. He felt light headed, and momentarily lost his balance.

"Are you alright?" He heard her ask. He shook out of it, and went for his pager.

"Y-yeah. Just felt sick there for a sec…" He looked at the pagers screen before slipping it back into his pocket. "Gotta go. There's trouble on the other side of town." He began jogging off, waving back at her without looking back. "See ya later Sakura-chan!"

"Be careful!" She shouted back. He turned around, rubbing his head and grinning. He was about to shout back, but tripped over his own feet, falling backwards. He quickly jumped back to his feet, blushing madly, and left at an even quicker pace.

Sakura shook her head, smiling to herself. Then her gaze went down to her necklace.

'_Was that really him? He definitely reacted to the necklace…but I don't think he would give me a straight answer if I brought it up again…'_ She placed the stone around her neck once more, and made her way back to the building. _'Guess I have to do some more digging to be absolutely sure.'_ Her smile grew wider _'Though it might not be so bad.'

* * *

Those of you going to Sakura-con this weekend have fun! I can't go because of work, but my sister is going, so I'll still be getting goodies. See ya later! _

_BTD_


	7. Allies

Big thanks to trimurti for helping me upload this chapter. Had this done for awhile, but the site wasn't having any of it. This chapter came out quick because I was hit with a bolt of inspiration.(was drinking gatorade...gonna have to drink that more often). Also, awesome news! Loyal fan suzako is going to translate this fic to Italian! How cool is that?! One small step towards world domination baby! Ok that was lame...Anyways here's chapter seven! Enjoy!_

* * *

_

Chapter Seven: Allies

"I want to learn how to do jutsus." Naruto choked on the noodles he was currently consuming. After several coughs, he looked over at Sakura in disbelief.

"What?!"

"I said I want to learn how to do jutsus." Sakura said once more. Naruto grabbed the glass of water next to him, guzzled it down in seconds, then turned back to her.

"Why?"

"Because I'm tired of standing in the sidelines. I want to be able to do something, Naruto." He twisted in his stool so that his entire body was facing her. He raised his hand and pointed at her, giving her a flat look.

"Well you're not supposed to be in the sidelines anyways. You're supposed to be somewhere far, far away." He poked her shoulder when he said "far" for emphasis. She pushed his hand back, then glared at him. "Well you are! You could get killed!"

"Which is why I want to learn jutsus. So that I can protect myself."

"This isn't something that you suddenly decide you want to do. It takes years of training! _I'm_ still training, and I've been doing this since I was a kid!" He let out a sigh and turned back to the table, drumming his fingers along the top. "Look, you got a lot of good things going for you right now. With the grades that you have, you could get into any college you want, get a good paying job, and live a good life. Getting involved in this will ruin everything you've worked hard for."

Sakura leaned forward, folding her arms on the table, trying to think of a way to convince him otherwise. Naruto went back to his ramen. The only sound between the two was the slurping sounds he let out every couple seconds. Sakura glanced back at him from the corner of her eye.

"What if I just want to learn the basics?" His slurping stopped, and he glanced back, fixing her with a stare. "I just want to try it. And if it doesn't work out, I'll never bring the subject up again." She finished. His eye began twitching slightly, whether it was from annoyance or just stress was unknown. He set down his bowl and wiped the broth from his mouth. But just as he opened his mouth, his pager went off. He rolled his eyes and dug it out of his pocket. "Guess we'll talk about it later…" She said quietly.

"Eh? Actually, I just need to make a phone call." His eyes brightened instantly. "It's baa-chans number. I gotta find a phone." Sakura pulled out her cell phone and gave it to him.

"Here, try not to take to long." He grinned.

"Thanks!" He dialed the number and waited patiently. Sakura couldn't hear the voice on the other end of the line, but she could tell it was a women. "Hey Shizune nee-chan! You paged me?" Naruto leaned onto the counter, still smiling."I'm doing fine. I'm getting enough sleep, I have enough money, I'm fine nee-chan." He said quickly, like it was a routine. For a minute, Naruto was silent, listening to the other end. Then his head lifted up slightly. "You're coming here? When?" Sakura smiled at his enthusiasm. "That's great! I thought you guys wouldn't be here for another month. Hey where is baa-chan anyway?"

His cheery mode went south instantly. "She's passed out on the couch…" His brow began twitching. "Put the phone to her ear." The voice on the other end sounded a little worried. "Just do it." He pulled Sakura's phone away from his ear and positioned it a foot away from his mouth. "I'll wake her old ass up." He mumbled quietly. Sakura raised a brow.

_'What is he doing?'_ She thought. Naruto took in a deep breath, then-

"**_BAAAAAAA-CHAAAAN!"_** Sakura nearly fell out of her chair at his sudden outburst. His shout then turned into a fit of giggles as a new voice on the other line began shouting back loudly.

**"You little snot-nosed brat! Do you have any idea what time it is?!"** Sakura heard the new voice clearly. Naruto stopped laughing, brought the phone back to his ear, then replied in a flat tone.

"It's three in the after noon." There was a pause on the other end.

**"Do you have any idea what time I got to bed last night?!"** She said in the same angry tone as before.

"More like this morning maybe? Don't know, and don't care. You should be up now anyway you old hag!"

**"Old hag?!"** There was a low growl from the other end.** "You're gonna pay for that brat. When I get back I'm go-"** The voice was interrupted, and the first voice came in, sounding slightly panicked.

**"Tsunade-sama! You're gonna break the phone!" **

**"I don't care!"** The struggle continued for several moments, causing Naruto to chuckle to himself.

**"Naruto, can you pick up some things for me before we come by?"** The first voice shouted, trying to be heard over the ranting of 'Tsunade-sama'. Naruto smiled.

"Sure thing nee-chan. What do you need?" He pulled out a slip of paper and a pen from his backpack. Then wrote down two things, but Sakura couldn't see what it was with his hand in the way. "That's it? Ok, I'll see you both in a couple days!" He hung up the phone and gave it back to her. "Thanks. I have a couple errands to run, but you can come if you want to." Sakura blinked out of her stupor, shaking her head.

"Was that normal?" She asked. He tilted his head slightly in confusion.

"What was?" She sighed.

"Never mind…Why not? Sure I'll go with you." He nodded, and the two of them gathered up their things.

"Hey ji-san! Put this on my tab!" He shouted to the back of the hut. There was some low grumbling, but a hand appeared from around the back to wave them off.

"So what exactly are we doing?"

"I gotta pick up some stuff for Shizune nee-chan and Tsunade baa-chan. It's not much, and it shouldn't take to long."

"So where-"

"If you're gonna learn about jutsus, then the first thing to teach you is how to use your chakra. Otherwise it's pointless to even show you." Sakura paused in step, smiling slightly.

"So you're going to teach me?" She asked, sounding hopeful. He rubbed his eyes in defeat.

"Yeah, I'll teach you some things…" He mumbled quietly. Sakura lifted her head, smiling in triumph.

_'Score! This round is mine!'_ Then jogged to catch up to him

"Anyways…You're chakra is made up of two kinds of energies; physical, and spiritual or mental energy. Physical energy comes from your body... Something to do with the cells in your body or something like that. You can ask Kakashi or baa-chan about it. Spiritual energy comes from training and experience from the field. Mix the two together and you have chakra.

To mix the two energies, you have to perform hand seals. Without the seals, you can't perform the jutsu." He paused, looking up in thought. "I think that covers the basics…I hope." Sakura blinked, mouth open slightly.

"That…That was a pretty good explanation…" He looked away, slightly embarrassed. "Could you show me how it's done?" She asked. He glanced around the area several times, then cracked his knuckles.

"Sure." They both stopped, but he took a step back from her. Then he threw his hands together, his brows were furrowed in concentration.

**"Kage Bushin No Jutsu!"** He shouted. A cloud of smoke suddenly appeared, concealing him. When the smoke cleared there were two Narutos standing there. "This is the result when you release the chakra from the seal." The right Naruto said. Sakura stared at the sight in awe.

"Which one is the real you?" The right one raised his hand. She walked up to the left one and began pulling on his cheek

"Ow! What are you doing?"

"Amazing. He's…well real."

"Yeah, and that hurts! Let go!" She pulled back, grinning sheepishly.

"Sorry." The real Naruto stepped forward, and began waving him off.

"Alright, that's it. Get out of here before someone sees you." The other Naruto glared at him.

"Oh I see. You bring me here just to be apart of some freak show." The real one rolled his eyes.

"Just hurry up and go already." The clone crossed his arms and snorted.

"Bastard…" He mumbled quietly. The real one did a double take.

"What?!" The clone gave a cheeky grin, then waved to the both of them,

"See ya!" then he disappeared in a puff of smoke. Naruto glared at the cloud of smoke, and let out a small growl.

"Only you could argue with yourself." Sakura said lamely. Naruto let out a huff, and Sakura could of sworn she heard him mutter "jerk" before walking on. She ran up beside him, leaning forward to get a glimpse of his face.

"So are there other jutsus you can do?" She asked. He nodded.

"Yeah, lots of 'em. I would show you what else I could do, but doing jutsus takes up chakra, and I have to save my strength for tonight."

"How many are out there?" He shrugged.

"Thousands. People create new ones every year."

"People can make jutsus?"

"Yeah, but that's a whole other subject." He stopped abruptly. "We don't have time for it now, we're here." Sakura stopped, and looked up ahead. They stood in front of a large house that was surrounded by a huge field, and a forest far behind the house. Several deer were on the property, grazing peacefully. She instantly recognized the house. She had been here a couple times before with Ino, and there was only one family that had a herd of deer roaming around in their property.

"This is Shikamaru's house. Why are we here?"

"He has the first thing on baa-chans list. Antlers." He replied, then began walking towards the house. Sakura followed closely behind him as he made his way around the side yard towards the back. There on the grass was Shikamaru, laying on the ground, looking up at the sky.

"Hey Shikamaru! You awake?" Naruto shouted at him. Shikamaru raised his head up, one eye open, trying to get a look at who ever was shouting at him.

"Oi, you're too damn loud Naruto." He replied, not so enthusiastic about the guests. He sat up slowly, arms draped over his knees. "What do you want?" He caught sight of Sakura, and pointed a finger at her, giving Naruto a flat look. "And what is she doing here?" Sakura's brow twitched in annoyance.

"Hello to you as well, Shikamaru." She replied sarcastically. Naruto ignored her tone and his look, opting to grin instead.

"Baa-chan is making me run some errands again. I need some antlers." Shikamaru let out a sigh, then stood up.

"Whatever. Come on, I'll get you the stuff." He glanced at Sakura one more time, then back at Naruto. "She can't-"

"She already knows, so it's ok." Shikamaru's eyes widened slightly, but then he nodded.

"Alright, if you say so." They followed him into the house, walking through the narrow hallway. The three of them came up to a door, and Shikamaru opened it, hitting the lights on the way in.

The walls of the room were covered in scrolls, and the desk on the other end of the room had several tools scattered about. There were some antlers positioned on the wall, but there were also some on the desk, cut into some pieces, and ground up in some bowls. Shikamaru walked up to the desk, picking up one of the untouched antlers, then tossed it to Naruto. "That should last her awhile. Is there anything else you need?"

"Nope, that's it. Thanks a lot! We'll see you later." Shikamaru scratched his head, then walked past them.

"Yeah, yeah. Just go already." Naruto chuckled, then began leading Sakura out of the house.

"Is Shikamaru-"

"Yep. His family has been doing it for generations. Like other clans here."

"Which ones?"

"Most of the wealthy ones…We're headed to another one right now." Sakura glanced towards the back where Shikamaru went.

"Shikamaru doesn't look like someone who fights demons."

"Yeah, well Shikamaru and his family can do things that no one else can."

"And what's that?"

"Manipulate the shadows." Her eyes widened.

"How? From jutsus?"

"Sorta…one of his ancestors made a blood-pact to a demon." Sakura paused

"A what?"

"A blood-pact. Some demons have some code of honor that they follow. It has something to do with them wanting their powers to live on, continued to be respected by humans and demons alike. If you defeat one of those demons, they'll grant you their powers and then die without protest. Shikamaru's ancestor defeated a demon that could manipulate shadows, and it gave its powers to him. Since then, his family controlling shadows by using jutsus." The two of them made it out of the house and back onto the street.

"So you can gain power from demons if you defeat them?" She asked.

"No. Only if they want to. If you try to force them, then they could posses your body, and then you're screwed."

"But what stops them from possessing your body in the first place."

"The blood-pact. It prevents the demon from going back on its word. It seals the deal basically." Naruto finished.

"Are there others out there that have that kind of power?"

"Yeah, we're heading to another house right to get poison."

"Poison?"

"Baa-chan is a medic. She can do can do all kinds of stuff with it." He looked back at her, giving her a flat look. "Don't ask me what. I don't know. You can ask her when she gets back."

"So where are you going to get poison in this town?"

"From Shino." Sakura blinked, not quite believing what he said.

"…Shino. Quiet, well mannered Shino?"

"Yep."

"Why would he have poison?"

"His family has a blood-tie to demons as well. One that was able to control a swarm of bugs." He turned to Sakura, grinning darkly, but in a humorous way. "Only side effect is that the swarm lives inside his body." He wiggled his fingers, trying to scare her. Sakura let out a shutter, rubbing her arms.

"Ugh…creepy…How do they get out of his body if they live inside?" Naruto opened his mouth to reply, but she held up her hand "Wait. Maybe I don't want to know." He grinned, chuckling lightly.

"Yeah, it is kinda gross." He pointed up ahead. "There it is."

It was another large house, but this one was surrounded by multiple green houses rather than the many trees from Shikamaru's house. She could smell all the different scents and feel the humid air coming from the buildings.

"Wow. And this is for?" She started, and Naruto cut in to finish.

"The bugs. They may have a swarm living inside their bodies, but they collect others to study and raise. Which is why were here for poison." He was about to take a step when a new voice called out.

"Naruto." He turned towards the caller, and his eyes lit up.

"Eh? Oh, hey Shino! You're home pretty late."

"I had other arrangements that needed to be taken care of." The hooded boy then noticed Sakura was there, and slightly bowed. "Good afternoon Sakura." She just waved back to him.

"Hey Shino." Shino turned his attention back to Naruto

"Is there something that you needed from me?" Naruto grinned, and pulled out his list.

"Yeah, baa-chan needs some scorpion's venom from Suna. She didn't have time to go to Suna herself and get it, so you're the next best thing." Shino nodded.

"Alright. Wait out here, and I'll be back with the your venom." He then went headed to the green house that was to the right, leaving the two of them standing there.

"Why do you we have to wait out here?" Naruto scratched his head in embarrassment, blushing.

"The uh…bugs don't like me too much…"

"You mean that you did something moronic and made them angry, right?" Sakura corrected him. He coughed.

"…Sorta…But that's a story for another time."

"Figures." Sakura said to herself, rolling her eyes.

Five minutes later, and Shino returned with a vial of venom, handing it to Naruto.

"Is that all?" He asked. Naruto tossed it up in the air, and caught it effortlessly.

"That's it. Baa-chan can come here herself if she needs something else."

"Very well. I'll see you both tomorrow."

"See ya!" Naruto waved, while Sakura bowed, and the two left Shino's house.

"So where are we going now?"

"Well that's all we needed. So, I'm going to try and teach you how to use your chakra." Her eyes brightened up instantly.

"Now?" She asked, holding back her excitement.

"Only for a couple hours. We're heading to a spot so no one will bother us." She pumped her fist in the air.

"Yes!" Naruto chuckled softly.

"You're excited now, but you're gonna be hurting later." She turned to him, smiling back.

"I'm willing to risk it." He let out a sigh, running a hand through his hair.

"Alright…if you say so."

_'What am I getting myself into…'_

* * *

And I'm out! Hoped you liked it. 


	8. Lessons

Wow did May suck. I had a bunch of crap just thrown at me over the month, and that sucked all my energy out to do anything. From my brother nearly losing an arm to my kitty-cat having to go in for treatment(he's 16 years old, so I'm worried big time). Then my laptop get one badass virusand I had to fight off pop-ups for a week before I gave up and took it in.When it rains, it freaking pours.

Anyway, here's chapter eight. Thank you guys for being awesome and patient for the next chapter, I was never expecting it to get this much feedback(almost at 100 reviews!). So here's to you guys! Enjoy.

* * *

_Chapter Eight: Lessons_

'_I'm…so tired…'_

"Sakura!" Sakura raised her head from her desk slowly, her eyes half closed.

"Hmmm?" was the tired reply.

"I would appreciate it if you would stay awake in my class." Kurenai stared flatly at her, clearly not amused. Sakura sat up slowly, fixing up her desk at a leisurely pace.

"Sorry sensei." Kurenai looked at her for several more seconds, then continued teaching. Behind her, Sakura heard some light snickering. Behind her, Naruto was laughing into his hand. Sakura glared at him, then mouthed to him "This is your fault!" He scribbled on the paper on his desk, and held it up so she could see. It read **I told you so!** in pencil, scribbled over several times to make it bold. She let out a huff, and faced the front of the class again.

In front of her, Kiba was fidgeting in his seat. He usually skipped classes out of boredom, but Kurenai was a special case, and he would usually stay. It was then that Sakura remembered the training she and Naruto did over the weekend.

"_**Are you having second thoughts yet?" Naruto asked, his voice had a teasing tone to it as he grinned at her. Sakura sat on the ground, panting heavily. For the last hour, Naruto was teaching her how to bring out her chakra, so that she could begin to learn how to do jutsus. She surprised him when she caught on quickly, but she had little chakra to work with, which tired her out just as fast. She glanced up at him, smiling lightly.**_

"_**Nope. Guess you're still going to have to deal with me." He let out an overly dramatic sigh, rubbing his head.**_

"_**Ok, ok…let's start with something easy for you to do." He rubbed his chin, staring off into space. Then his eyes suddenly brightened up, and he snapped his fingers. "Got it! I'll teach you how to counter genjutsu. It's real easy." Sakura stood up slowly, and stretched out her arms.**_

"_**So, what do I do?"**_

"_**Ok…" He looked up in thought, trying to figure out what to say next. "When someone is using genjutsu, they're controlling the chakra that flows in your body. It affects all of your senses, sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing." He grinned "It sucks too, because if they're good at it then you won't be able to tell if you're under genjutsu until it's too late." He shrugged, pacing slightly around her. "But mostly genjutsu is used to hide the user from you, or anything else they don't want you to see."**_

"_**Why don't you teach me genjutsu?" He looked away sheepishly.**_

"_**Because I can't do genjutsu..." She let out a light snort.**_

"_**Right."**_

"_**It's not my thing." He replied weakly, trying to defend himself.**_

"_**No, your thing is shoot first, ask questions later." His eye twitched in annoyance.**_

"_**Wanna learn this or not?" She perked up and grinned.**_

"_**I'm ready to learn sensei!"**_

_**With his ego sated, he smiled, crossing his arms.**_

"_**Ok! So to stop a genjutsu, all you have to do is stop your own chakra flow through out your body." He nodded when he finished, his ego rising. Sakura just blinked.**_

"_**That's it?"**_

"_**That's it." She glared at him, forming a fist.**_

"_**You already showed me how to do that earlier!" Startled by her outburst, he jumped back a bit to put space between the two of them. He looked at her sheepishly.**_

"_**I did?" He asked, confusion laced in with his tone of voice.**_

"_**Yes!!" She shouted. He backed up further, laughing nervously.**_

"_**W-well then." He cleared his throat, then grinned mischievously. "That concludes today's lessons. We'll start off tomorrow fresh." She threw a punch at him, but he jumped back and ran up a nearby tree for safety. Sakura ran to the trunk of the tree, shouting at him.**_

"_**You can't just end it like that! How the hell am I supposed to know I did the technique right!" He cupped his chin in thought, remaining silent for several moments. Then, he snapped his fingers.**_

"_**Got it! Here's your homework." He said cheerfully. "You know Kiba right?" she calmed down, but still had a pointed look.**_

"_**What about him?" **_

"_**He has a constant genjutsu up wherever he goes. Tomorrow, if he's in class, go ahead and break its affect on you. And trust me." He chuckled lightly. "You'll know if you did it right or not."**_

Sakura sat up in her chair, staring at the back of Kiba's head.

'_It doesn't look like he's hiding anything…but then again.'_ She brought her hands together._ 'That's what genjutsu is supposed to do.'_

"Kai!" She whispered softly, but with force. For an instant, everything in the room became of blur to her, but refocused back within seconds. She looked down at Kiba, but nothing changed around him.

'_There's nothing…'_ She turned around to glare at Naruto, but he looked to be struggling to hold back his laughter. She raised a brow in confusion, and mouthed "What?" to him. He raised his hand and pointed behind her. Turning back around, she glanced in the direction he pointed at. She did a double take.

"Holy hell!!" She shrieked, falling out of her seat. The rest of the class looked at her in confusion, as she looked on in shock at the sight before her.

On the floor of the class in front of Kurenai's desk was the biggest dog Sakura had seen in her life. The dog was resting undisturbed until Sakura's shout woke him up. His head tilted in confusion at her, and let out a light huff.

'_That thing has to be as big as a horse!!'_ It was then that Naruto's laughter pierced the air, breaking the silence.

"Uzumaki Naruto!" His laughter stopped and he immediately paled. Kurenai was glaring at him, arms crossed and her left eyebrow twitching slightly. Naruto gulped audibly, then grinned nervously back at her.

"Y-yes sensei? Something wrong?" Kurenai slammed her palm on her desk, getting straight to the point.

"What did you do this time?" The nervous grin disappeared, and was replaced by a look of confusion.

"Eh?" Sakura looked back and forth between the two, figuring out what was going on.

'_She thinks that he pulled another prank.'_

"Kurenai-sensei, he didn't-" Sakura started, but was cut off by Naruto's laughter.

"Hehe, you caught me sensei." He held his hands up in mock surrender, grinning all the while. Kurenai let out a frustrated sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"Just wait outside. I'll talk to you after class…"

"Right, right. I know the drill." He made his way towards the door, but stopped next to Sakura and helped her to her feet. "Sorry about that Sakura-chan." Then in a quiet voice added, "Great job! I knew you could do it." As he walked off, she heard his beeper going off, though it was muffled through his jacket. When he went past Kurenai's desk, the dog wagged his tail happily, his tongue lolling out the side. Naruto quickly scratched behind his ears, and left the class room quietly. Kurenai shook her head.

"Go ahead and have a seat Sakura." Sakura quickly sat down at her desk.

"Right…"

'_Unbelievable…He took the blame just so he could get out of class…He was always doing this sort of thing wasn't he?'_ Sakura thought to herself.

Class passed by too slowly for Sakura tastes. But soon enough the bell signaled the end of the period, and the students started leaving. Sakura began gathering her things quickly, wanting to get through the day as quickly as possible.

"Hey." Her head jerked up at the voice. Before her stood Kiba, giving her a flat look, and beside him stood his gigantic dog, panting lightly.

"What? What is it?" She took a quick glance around the class room, and noticed that they were alone.

'_Kurenai-sensei must have gone looking for Naruto.'_

"You're not supposed to know how to break genjutsu. Hell, you're not supposed to know about genjutsu period." He crossed his arms, his look darkening somewhat. "I heard that you had a run in with some demons, but I didn't think Naruto would go as far as actually teach you how to fight them…"

"It's more for self-defense than actually fighting them." She replied while slipping on her backpack. He let out a snort.

"Right. If he wanted to teach you to defend yourself, he would've started you off with taijutsu, not learning how to dispel genjutsu…"

"That's because she needs to get used to using chakra. She'll have better control that way." The both of them turned around to see Naruto standing at the door way, arms crossed and smiling. Kiba frowned, taking a couple steps towards him.

"I thought you went to go take care of some demon?"

"Just had to make a phone call. What's the problem?"

"The problem is that you shouldn't be teaching her at all. Do you know how much trouble you're going to cause? You we're supposed to just save her and drug her so that she would think that it was all a bad dream." Sakura gasped lightly, shocked by the statement. But Naruto just continued smiling, and shrugged.

"Well I changed my mind…"

Kiba laughed, though his laughter had a sarcastic tone to it.

"This is unbelievable…you know that the majority of the slayers are not going to like this… some don't like you as it is. Did you ever think about how that's going to affect her?" Naruto glared back at Kiba, his anger slipping through bit by bit.

"I thought about it, and I could care less about what those bastards think. If I want to teach her, then I'll teach her. And there's really nothing they can do about it except bitch and moan. Besides…" His smirk came back "I have friends in high places that can help me…will help me." He finished. Kiba sighed, shaking his head and rubbed at his temples.

"You really are something…but there's only so much that your friends can do…" He gave Naruto a fixed stare. "You're sure that you want to do this?" Naruto returned the look.

"I won't quit. I'm not going to stop what I started." He grinned at Kiba, "It's just not my way."

Kiba grinned back at him.

"Yeah, you're always full of surprises…" He then headed towards the door. "I guess I'll be seeing you both around." He waved at them as he passed by "Later. Let's go Akamaru." The dog barked, and trotted after Kiba, tail wagging happily as they left the room. Shaking his head, Naruto let out a sigh, and looked back at Sakura, smiling.

"Well, wanna get some lunch?" He then headed out the door at a leisurely pace. Sakura shook out of her shock and quickly caught up to him in the hallway.

"What was that about?" She demanded

"What was what about?"

"About you getting into trouble!" He waved her off dismissively

"Nothing that you need to worry about."

"You're getting into trouble by teaching me jutsus, right?" He looked up at the ceiling in thought.

"A little…" He replied. "But I always get into trouble when the 'higher ups' are involved. It's something I'll deal with it later." He smiled once more. "But hey! You were able to break his genjutsu! Great job!" She gave him a flat look.

"You're changing the subject."

He let out a sigh, scratching his head.

"Alright. Yes, I'm going to get into trouble for teaching you to do jutsus. I'm also going to get into trouble for telling you about the demons…I'm basically screwed because I let you in on the world's biggest secret." She moved in front of him, making him stop.

"Then why? How come you let me know if you're going to get into trouble?" He shrugged, and gave her a cheeky grin.

"Because I wanted to. Like I said earlier, I don't care what some old geezers think about training an outsider." He side stepped around her and began walking again. "The way I see it, is that we need all the help we can get." She stood there, her mouth open slightly from shock.

_'He really is something else...Disregarding the rules just like that because he felt like it.'_

She ran to catch up, and walked side by side with him, smiling lightly.

"So you're going to show me more than the basics?" He nodded

"Yep. Which is why I got someone to teach you." She immediately brightened up.

"Really? Wait…So you're not going to teach me then?" Her excitement from earlier had gone away somewhat.

"I'll be there, but more as a training partner." _'Or punching bag…Maybe I should've gotten Kakashi-sensei to teach her instead…'_ She nodded, grinning at him suddenly.

"So when do I get to meet my new sensei?"

"Soon enough…for now I just want to get some food before Kurenai-sensei finds me and yells at me for running off again."

* * *

See ya later. going to bed. 


	9. Baachan

First off. I am so, _so_ sorry. This shouldn't have taken this long to get out, but it just never turned out right, so I kept having to go back and rewrite the entire thing over and over again. I would also like to apologize to those reviewers that I have not replied to. I have a bad habit of doing that and it needs to stop. To help kill the habit, I made a AIM address: **btd2468**. So if you want to guys have questions about the story, or want to talk about the anime/manga, video games or just want to chat, drop me a line. I'd be happy to talk to all you wonderful people.

Since this story reached one hundred reviews(121 now!) I added in a special to go with this chapter. I hope you guys enjoy it!

I also have another story up called **Whirlpool**. It has spoilers for chapters 367 and up(Those of you who read it most likely know who its about). It was originally a one-shot, but it got ridiculously long, so I split it into two sagas. First one is out, and the second one will be out within the week after do some final editing. You can check it out in my profile or look in the 4th Hokage fics.

Well without further delay, here it is.

* * *

_Chapter Nine: Baa-chan_

"I think I've passed this part of the lesson, can we move on to the next section _sensei_?" Sakura stood straight, head held high with pride as she grinned back at Naruto who was at the edge of the lake. She stood in the center of the body of water, crossing her arms and arched a brow at him, waiting for an answer. Naruto made his way out towards her at a leisurely pace, grinning at her.

"You're doing great! I don't know how, but you're breezing through this easily!" He stopped next to her, putting his hands in his pockets. "To be honest, I wasn't really expecting you to get this far in so little-" He was cut off suddenly when his feet were swept out from underneath him and he fell backwards into the water with a loud splash. He reemerged seconds later, coughing up water. He pushed back the soaked hair from his eyes and glared up at her.

"What the hell was that for?! I was praising you and you pull this kind of crap on me?!" She glared back with more intensity, and he backed slightly in fear.

"That was for making fun of me during taijutsu training! Call me fat will you?!" She shouted, fist clenched tightly. His eyes rose up in confusion, and his face held a look of disbelief.

"I did not! I just said you were slow!" channeling chakra through his hands, he pushed himself back on top of the water. But before he could regain his balance, she lashed out at him with a punch. He let himself fall backwards, placing his hands on the surface of the water, he flipped backwards with ease and landed on his feet. He blocked another of her blows with his arm, and dodged to the side as she kicked at him. "I didn't say anything about your weight!" He continued to argue, trying to get her to calm down.

"Same difference!" She shouted back, and continued to lash out at him.

He sighed in defeat, and just went along with it. He should have been used to it by now. He'd been training her for about two weeks, and during said training, he would do what his sensei did to him. Taunt her. When ero-sennin taunted him, he would work harder to prove him wrong (and he always did). But when he would taunt Sakura, she just took it out on him with taijutsu. It was the same result even when they weren't working on taijutsu. He would taunt her, and she would start attacking him in 'righteous' anger.

'_Girls are weird…oh well. At least this is improving her taijutsu…'_ Out of all the techniques he taught her, taijutsu was the one she had trouble with most. But that wouldn't be much of a problem in the near future.

Using the momentum from moving forward, Sakura did a roundhouse kick. But Naruto caught her leg effortlessly using his arm and thigh to keep her from moving. Without losing a beat, she threw another punch, but he caught her fist with his free hand. With Naruto holding her leg the way he was, she couldn't make another move. He grinned back her.

"Ready for round two?" He asked, then shoved her backwards. Her eyes widened as she was falling towards the water. But she reacted quickly, and twisted her body around gain balance. She did so successfully, and fell into a stance. She grinned back him.

"Hell yeah!" She made the move to charge at him once more, but suddenly felt something grab her ankles tightly. She didn't have the chance to look down as she was pulled under water. The pressure on her ankles disappeared as quickly as it came, and she swam to the surface. When broke through, she could hear him laughing. She whipped her head back to get the hair out of her face and glared at Naruto.

"No fair! Two on one is cheating!" His laughter died down to chuckles.

"Then maybe you shouldn't have tripped me into the water." She growled, but quickly pushed herself up as he did to get back onto the surface of the water. When she made to go at him again, she suddenly felt tired. Her foot began sinking as she stopped channeling chakra, and she lost her balance. But before she hit the water, Naruto was there and caught her. With one hand at her waist and the other placing her arm around his shoulders, he lifted her up slowly.

"Well, I think that's enough for now. Let's head back to shore." He somewhat dragged her across the waters surface until she was able to channel what chakra she had left to her feet, so that he wouldn't have to support her entirely.

"That took more out of me than I thought…" She said, panting lightly.

"Yeah, but you did great! You were able to spar without having to worry about staying on the water's surface! I don't know how, but you're a natural at controlling chakra." She blushed lightly at the praise, and glanced at him from the corner of her eye.

"Really?" He nodded enthusiastically

"Really." Then his features took on a childish pout. "Honestly, I'm a little jealous. I wish I could learn as fast as you can. Then I wouldn't have everybody on my back all the time about fighting demons."

When they got to the shore, he set her down on the ground, and she flopped backwards to gaze up at the sky. He followed suit after her, letting out of contented sigh. Sakura turned her head towards him.

"So when is my new sensei going to show up?" She asked.

"Oh yeah…today." She shot up, looking at him in disbelief

"What?! Why the hell didn't you tell me?!" he rolled away from her for safety's sake, grinning bashfully.

"I forgot?" He defended himself weakly. She let out a frustrated shout, and charged at him once more. He jumped to his feet and ran back onto the lakes surface. She went to follow, but quickly discovered that she was sinking in the water. She stopped at her ankles, and began shouting at him.

"Get back here and fight like a man!" He just grinned from his spot, and stuck out his tongue. She let out a low growl, knowing she needed to rest before she could go out and pummel him more. But then she saw his mocking face turn to one of horror, and he quickly ran from his current position. Before she could figure out what was going on, a huge rock came flying out of the sky and plummeted down right where Naruto stood seconds before. A huge wave shot up several meters into the sky. Sakura let out a surprised squeak, and quickly scanned the area to find Naruto. She saw him skid to a stop on the water's surface, and raised his fist in the air, looking angrily past her.

"You trying to kill me you old hag?!" He shouted.

"I've been trying for years! You just never seem to cooperate!"

"If you worked on your aim instead of drinking and gambling you would actually accomplish _something_!" Sakura felt a gust of wind, and saw the back of a long, blond haired woman, running out towards Naruto with a ferocity she had never seen before.

"I've been waiting to do this for months you ungrateful brat!!" She shouted, then threw a punch at him. He easily avoided the shot, jumping backwards. When her fist crashed into the water, it made the rock she threw earlier look like a pebbles splash. Sakura took several steps back in shock, as she was drenched once more from the falling water that came from the woman's strike.

Sakura continued to watch in awe as Naruto and the strange woman continued to fight, still shouting insults at each other very loudly.

'_Who is she?'_ She wondered.

"Try not to hurt him too much Tsunade! He still has to do his rounds tonight!" Hearing a familiar voice, she turned around, and saw a grinning Jiraiya, standing next to a young black haired woman holding a pig. The woman was shaking her head, and Sakura heard her mutter "Every time she does this…it never ends." Shaking out of her stupor, Sakura faced Jiraiya.

"Jiraiya-san, what's going on?" Jiraiya smiled kindly at her.

"Ah, where are my manners." He gestured to the woman next to him. "This is Shizune, she is the assistant and apprentice to Tsunade, who is currently trying to crush my student." He pointed back out at the lake to the blond woman, who was throwing more vicious punches at Naruto. He continued dodging her attacks, but as he did, she could make out a small grin on his face. "It's been awhile since they last saw each other. They tend to fight more the longer she's gone. Long distance doesn't work well with these two."

Tsunade was finally able to grab hold of Naruto's arm, spun around once, and sent him skipping across the water towards the others on shore. The last skip landed him on his back, staring up at the faces of his friends. He grinned, and waved at them.

"Hey ero-sennin, nee-chan…Ton-ton" He added once he saw the pig. Jiraiya grinned back,

"Yo." Shizune smiled and set down Ton-ton, offering a hand to Naruto. He gladly took it, and was pulled to his feet. She went to brush some of the mud off his shoulders, but he decided to hug her instead.

"N-Naruto! You're soaking wet!" She shrieked, and pushed him back slightly. He still grinned.

"Ahhh, but I haven't seen you in months!" His grin disappeared when he heard soft splashes of water coming from behind him. He let go of Shizune and turned around fearfully. Tsunade was making her way towards him at a leisurely pace. She was soaking wet, but that didn't seem to cool her temper. She stopped a couple feet away from him, and pushed back some strains of hair that stuck to her face. Naruto held his head up high, staring back defiantly. Tsunade gave him a flat look for several moments, then let out a sigh and held out her hand.

"Truce?" She asked. He grinned widely, then rushed her, enveloping her in a hug.

"Truce!" He agreed cheerfully. She hugged him back, mussing up his hair affectionately.

"I missed you too."

Naruto broke their embrace and turned back to the others, and Tsunade's gaze fell onto Sakura. She walked around Naruto, looking Sakura up and down. Sakura felt nervous at the woman's penetrating gaze. Her eyes would dart back and forth from the ground and Tsunade's eyes, feeling uncomfortable. "Is this the one?" Tsunade asked Naruto over her shoulder.

"Yep. What do you think? Will you do it?" Tsunade circled her once, then stopped in front of her, hands on her hips.

"She's got the potential from what I saw earlier, but she still needs a lot of work." Her nervousness disappeared and changed into confusion.

"Huh?"

"So you'll do it?" Naruto asked, excitement in his voice. Sakura leaned to the side, getting a better look at Naruto.

"What are you talking about?" Naruto maneuvered around Tsunade so that he was standing next to Sakura, and held out his arm towards Tsunade.

"She's gonna be your new sensei!"

"What?" Tsunade crossed her arms, smirking at Sakura's flabbergasted look, as Naruto continued to explain.

"Ero-sennin has watched some of our training sessions, and he thinks that baa-chan might be able to help you way better than any of us." Sakura glanced over at Jiraiya, slightly confused. He was reaching for his sake jug at his side.

"When Naruto told me how fast you were able to master tree climbing with out any prior training, that caught my attention." He paused to take a quick drink before continuing. "From what I've observed, chakra control for you is as natural as walking.

"To gain control like that takes years and years to accomplish. Naruto's control is adequate, but still has room for improvement. You on the other hand, can most likely pull of high level jutsus with some practice." Sakura blinked several times, her mouth open in shock and awe.

"Really? I could?" She asked in a light tone, excitement building up inside her.

"You could…But you can't." Jiraiya shot her happiness down instantly.

"But you just said that I can!" She said, slightly miffed. He wiggled his finger at her in a condescending way.

"You're control maybe amazing, but your chakra capacity is horrible. The worst I've seen in a long time." He said, causing her to winced

"Is it that bad?" Jiraiya was about to reply when Tsunade beat him to it.

"You can't train for more than fifteen minutes before you need to rest."

"But that was when we we're training on water!" Naruto cut in, trying to vouch for her.

"Shizune went for an hour an a half before she tired out on her first try on the water. And she was younger than Sakura is now." Sakura looked in awe over at the other woman, seeing her blush lightly. "But there is a solution to your problem."

Sakura snapped back to Tsunade, fully paying attention.

"How? If it will help me get better I'll do it." Tsunade arched a brow.

"I wouldn't jump into this without thinking it through completely." She pointed to Naruto "The training you did with Naruto was nothing compared to what I'm going to put you through. I don't have time for someone who won't be committed to this." She stated, her tone slightly dark. Sakura straightened up, holding her head up.

"I want to do this. I won't be a burden. I promise."

Naruto smiled proudly at her as Tsunade continued to give her a hardened look. Her eyes then drifted down to the stone that hung around Sakura's neck, and her eye's flashed briefly. She looked back at Naruto in shock, and he seemed to have a look saying 'I told you so!' on his face. Tsunade let out a bark of laughter, causing Sakura to jump in surprise.

"Alright. I'll train you." Sakura brightened up immediately, while Naruto let out a whoop of joy. "But as I said. This won't be some walk in the park."

"Right! I understand." She replied, but let out a quiet snort.

'_Walking in the park is how I ended up in this situation in the first place.'_

"Well now since that's been taken care of…" She reached over and snatched Jiraiya's sake jug out of his hand, and took a swig from it. He let out a small complaint and reached back for it, but she swatted his hand away while still drinking. She let out a satisfied breath when she finished, and grinned. "Let's find a restaurant and celebrate!" She looked over at Shizune "Start filling her in on the basics and what to expect. We'll catch up to you both later." Shizune sighed, but conceded. She led Sakura off by the arm, and began explaining what she was going learn. Sakura looked over her shoulder back at Naruto, who was still grinning like an idiot, but was waving at her. When the two of them were out of earshot, Naruto smirked at Tsunade.

"Told you I would find her again." She went to smack his head, but he ducked under and avoided the strike.

"Quiet! I agreed to train her, as was part of the deal. No need to rub it in." She muttered. He laughed, placing his hands on the top of his head.

"So what do you have in mind for her?" Jiraiya asked.

"Shizune is going to see how well she'll take to learning the medical arts…" She then grinned wickedly at Naruto. "Other than that, I'm going to perfect her chakra control and taijutsu so that she can smack you senseless when I'm not around." Naruto winced in mock pain.

"Ahh…that's not nice baa-chan…" She laughed, but calmed down quickly, elbowing his side.

"So when are you going to get my necklace back?" She asked. Naruto looked up at the sky, feeling the breeze blow lightly on his face. He grinned.

"When she feels like she doesn't need it anymore." He replied. Tsunade rolled her eyes.

"She doesn't remember you does she." She said flatly, causing him to look sheepish.

"Not really…but I think she will. It's just going to take some time." He said softly. His stomach growled and he grinned. "Come on. Let's go catch up with nee-chan and Sakura-chan. I want to get some food." But when he looked back at Tsunade, she and Jiraiya were already walking off. "H-hey don't leave me behind!"

* * *

_One Hundred Review Special_

_**Twelve Years Ago…**_

'_Faster, faster, faster…gotta get home now!'_ The little boy panicked, running as fast as his small legs could carry him. He cut through yards, getting himself even more dirty than he already was. Jumping one last fence, he landing in his own yard, knees bent as he looked around the large property cautiously for any sign of life. _'All clear…'_ He quickly moved towards the back door, checking his surroundings for any danger that present itself at any moment. He stepped inside, a small grin forming on his face. He chuckled to himself as he made his way through the house, going from wall to wall in a stealthy manner.

'_Home free…I'm the best!!'_ He goaded himself on, gaining more confidence as he moved further in. _'Just gotta get to my room and-'_

"What happened here?!?!" A voice shrieked through the house. The boy paused, one foot in the air. He glanced down at said foot and paled. A clump of mud fell from the raised appendage and landed with a splat on the floor. He turned his head slowly to glance behind, and paled even further.

From his position, to the route he took coming from the back door, there was a trail of mud, zigzagging from one side of the room to the other. There were mud spots and handprints on the wall when he had leaned against them. He gulped audibly, looking back and forth between his foot and the mud. Hurried footsteps sounded out throughout the house, becoming louder by the second. But the boy stood frozen in place, unable to break himself free from the fear

Soon enough, a group of people came around one of the corners and into view. Kakashi held two bags of groceries, looking mildly surprised, but overall not shocked. He just made his was to the kitchen table to set the groceries down. Jiraiya, who also held some groceries, started snickering quietly. His quiet laughter caused his former teammate Tsunade to start laughing as well. The only one who remained silent was Shizune, who looked around the room in awe and disbelief. All of them were his teachers, showing him how to fight the demons that plagued the lands. But more than that, they were his family. Shizune looked like she was about to burst into tears. She turned her shocked gaze upon the boy. The boy gulped again.

"Uh oh…"

"What did you get into Naruto?!" She asked, still in disbelief about the state of the house. The others snickering became louder as he slowly set his foot down, to balance himself. He laughed nervously, scratching his head, only to cause more mud to hit the floor.

"I-uh…um…heheh." He fumbled about, trying to find the right words to say. But Tsunade came forward, smiling down at him.

"Don't worry so much Shizune. He most likely got in another scuffle." She bent down and brushed off some of the mud off his shoulders. He grinned up at her.

"R-right baa-chan…" Tsunade raised an eyebrow at him.

"Why are you so nervous?" She asked suspiciously. She knew that Naruto would brag about all the fights he started(and especially the ones he won). So she knew immediately that something was wrong. He tried taking a step back, but she held his shoulders firmly, looking him over closely. Then her eyes landed on his neck, and widened in shock. "Where's the necklace I gave you?" She half shouted.

Finally able to muster up the courage to speak, he raised his head high, No longer afraid of the unknown.

"I lost it." Tsunade looked at him flatly for several moments, remaining silent. Then said,

"You 'lost' it?" He nodded, keeping the look on his face straight, though his heart was racing a mile a minute.

"Yep." Tsunade keep her stern gaze on him.

"You're telling me that you lost my necklace…the one that belonged to my grandfather, the first Hokage…" She said in a low tone. Once again, he nodded, trying to stay calm.

"Yep." This time, she shook him wildly.

"Where!?! Where did you lose it?!" With a completely straight face, Naruto replied in a serious tone.

"In a volcano."

There was a moment of silence, then a burst of laughter coming from behind Tsunade as Jiraiya cackled loudly, unable to hold it back. Tsunade's brow began twitching irritably.

"That's it!" She grabbed the scruff of his neck, picking him up effortlessly, then headed towards the door. Panicking, Naruto began squirming wildly, but was held firmly by Tsunade's iron grip. "If you're not going to tell me, then we're going to train until I beat the truth out of you."

"I-I don't want to train! I'm tired!" He shouted, as they passed by a disinterested Kakashi, a worried Shizune, and Jiraiya who was still howling with laughter.

"Well maybe you should have thought twice about messing around volcanoes then!" The door slammed, muffling Naruto's cries for help. Jiraiya wiped the tears from his eyes, then sobered up, motioning for Kakashi and Shizune to follow him out the front door.

"Well…While Tsunade's busy beating the snot out of him, you two go try and find the necklace."

"We might not have any luck. There was a storm coming in before we got here, it'll wash away his scent, making harder to find out where he lost it." Kakashi replied.

"What about you Jiraiya-sama?" When the three reached the front step outside, Jiraiya looked up at the sky, watching the dark clouds closing in fast.

"I'm going to go find the old man. If anybody can get Naruto to talk, it's him. Now get going, you don't have a lot of time before the rain falls, and we need that stone." The two of them nodded, and vanished in an instant, leaving Jiraiya alone. One last shriek sounded through out the neighbor hood, and a feral grin showed on Jiraiya's face .

"Tsunade-hime never shows any mercy…"

* * *

Several agonizing hours later, Naruto found himself in bed, bandaged up from his 'training'. Tsunade had only stopped When Jiraiya had arrived with Sarutobi, who was smiling. He had kindly told Naruto to go wash up while he spoke with Tsunade, in which Naruto had readily agreed and limped his way to the house. He soaked in the bath for an hour before Shizune came to patch up his wounds, and put him to bed. She had tried to find out where he lost the necklace, but he kept quiet. She left him to rest, though he could not get to sleep so easily. The door to his room creaked open, and he glanced over nervously, but he let out a sigh of relief soon after. 

"It's only you oji-san." the old man chuckled, smiling back at Naruto.

"Thought I was Tsunade eh?" He turned on the lights, and moved into the room, sitting at the end of the bed. "I heard you had quite the adventure today! But Tsunade wasn't too happy about it." Naruto laughed nervously.

"Y-yeah…" Sarutobi smile disappeared though, and he gave Naruto a solemn look.

"I can understand her anger though…She had given you her keepsake." Naruto flinched, suddenly feeling guilty. Sarutobi patted his shoulder in comfort "Naruto…You can tell me the truth. Did you get into a fight, and the bullies took it?"

Naruto jumped to his feet, his hand forming a fist from righteous anger.  
"No way! I totally kicked their asses!" Eye's widening, he slapped his mouth shut. But Sarutobi just smiled.

"So there was a fight?" Naruto sighed, sitting cross legged on his mattress. "You know I don't like it when you start fights Naruto."

"But they were picking on someone! I had to do something!"

"Oh? Why don't you start from the beginning. So I know the whole story." Naruto let out another sigh, then nodded.

"I was coming home, and I cut through the park to get here faster. I saw some kids picking on a girl…" Sarutobi chuckled lightly.

"A girl?" He asked with a teasing tone, causing Naruto to blush lightly.

"Yeah…A-anyways. They were picking on her! I had to do something! So I took them out. And they ran off like the chickens they are." Sarutobi laughed, his eyes crinkled as he smiled.

"So you saved the day? I'm proud that you helped her, but that doesn't explain what happened to your necklace." Naruto blushed, scratching the side of his face.

"Well, she was still upset about being picked on. She said she had bad luck." His blush disappeared, and he looked at Sarutobi with a piercing gaze. "Baa-chan said that my necklace brought good luck! So, So I gave it to her…I-I mean borrow it! I let her borrow it. Until she doesn't need it anymore…"

Shaking his head, Sarutobi smiled, ruffling Naruto's head affectionately.

"You're a good person Naruto. But why didn't you tell the others the truth? Especially Tsunade?"

"I thought she would get mad…and the others would have made fun of me…well, mostly ero-sennin…"

"So you were afraid?" Naruto glared at him.

"I'm afraid of nothing!!" But Sarutobi's stern look caused him to wilt. "M-maybe a little scared."

"You have nothing to be afraid of Naruto. We're your family, never be afraid of to tell us anything."

"Right…"

"You should tell Tsunade the truth as well." Naruto looked away, his face flushing from embarrassment.

"Can you do it for me oji-san? Just this once?" Sarutobi stood up, smiling at him once more.

"Alright…Now, it's rather late, so why don't you get some sleep, and I'll see you in the morning."

"Okay." Naruto crawled back under his sheets as Sarutobi shut off the lights. "G'night oji-san!"

"Goodnight Naruto."

* * *

The next morning, Naruto was eating breakfast with Kakashi. Nartuo was munching on a piece of toast slowly, deciding to take it easy for the day. Reaching for his glass of milk, Naruto drank it down in several gulps, clanking the glass on the table and let out a satisfied sigh. When he went to wipe his mouth clean, he saw Tsunade standing at the opposite side of the room, giving him a flat look. His eyes widened, and he panicked. With a single bound, he leapt into Kakashi's arms, clinging onto his neck tightly. 

"Save me nii-chan!!" Kakashi could only sigh, patting Naruto's head with his free hand awkwardly.

"There, there…She may be kinder today than she was last night." He consoled the boy gently. Tsunade walked over, detached him from Kakashi, and hauled him outside once more. Naruto expected to be tossed to the other side of the yard like before, so he shut his eyes tightly.

Instead, He felt himself being lowered to the ground slowly. He cracked open an eye when his feet touched the ground, then gapped openly at Tsunade's smiling face.

"Eh?" She ruffled his hair, while he just looked up at her in confusion. She let out a sigh, blowing away a stray hair from her face.

"I'm sorry for beating the tar out of you." She said. Naruto noticed movement behind her, and saw Sarutobi smiling from the door way. It was then that he realized what was going on. His face flushed from embarrassment, and he looked towards the ground.

"Naw, I'm sorry baa-chan…I should've told you what happened in the first place…" She grinned, ruffling his hair.

"You're quite the lady's man aren't you?" She said in a teasing tone. His face quickly turned red, and he looked at the ground. "Well I hope you won't turn out like Jiraiya." Naruto jumped back holding out his arms in front of him, making it look like an X.

"No way!"

"Good. So what's her name?" He opened his mouth to reply, then paused looking up in thought.

"I…umm…I don't know." He said honestly.

"You never asked for her name?" She asked in disbelief. He held up his arms in defense.

"I was gonna, but then I had to get back here before I got in trouble!" He pointed an accusing finger at her, as well as giving her a sour look. "If you and everybody else didn't make me come home at six then I could've gotten her name and where she lived and went to school and all that other stuff people ask about when they first meet!"

Tsunade gave him a flat look, and lightly swatted his hand away.

"After that stunt you pulled last week you're fortunate enough to even see the light of day!" She said sternly, then poked his forehead, causing him to stumble back slightly. He quickly regained his balance, crossed his arms and looked away in a huff. After several moments of silence, Tsunade stood up, and motioned at Naruto to follow her back to the house. He did so, but continued to pout. "Did you at least get a good look at her?"

"We were both covered in mud…" He mumbled. She rolled her eyes.

"Of course. So how are you supposed to get back your necklace if you don't know her name or what she looks like?" He quickly cut in front of her, causing her to stop. Tsunade raised a brow.

"I'll find her." Naruto said seriously, determination shone in his eyes. "We made a deal to meet again, and I keep my promises." His serious demeanor suddenly changed into a wide grin. "So I'll find her. You can count on that!"

Tsunade blinked several times before she let out a bark of laughter.

"Ha! Alright. I'll hold you to it then." She held out her hand to Naruto, who stared at it for a second, then grabbed it, shaking with a firm grip.

"Deal!"

"Are you gambling again Tsunade?" Both of them turned to face Sarutobi, who was smiling as well. "Because you should know it isn't wise to make a bet with Naruto. He has a knack for winning." She waved off her teacher nonchalantly.

"Bah. It wasn't a bet, just making sure he keeps his word." Naruto nodded in agreement. Sarutobi chuckled, then went back inside.

"Of course. I'll see you both later then." When he was out of sight, Naruto looked up at Tsunade, a questioning look on his face.

"It was a bet, right?" She grinned down at him.

"Of course!" He grinned back with just as much eagerness as her. "But we can figure out the details later. After all, it may be awhile before you find your little girlfriend." She teased. He blushed, and looked away in embarrassment.

"…Hag…" Her eyes flashed at the remark.

"Don't push it brat."

* * *

There you go! I hoped you enjoyed it. I start more classes on Monday, so updates will still be awhile I'm afraid.(that and Halo 3...I know I'm pathetic) But the second part of Whirlpool should be out around then so check that out too. Until next time... 

_BTD_


End file.
